


In the Moments We Were Alone

by sockablock



Category: Critical Role (Web Series), Critical Role (Wildemount Campaign)
Genre: Angst, Bathhouse Shennanigans, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Jester and Nott are adorable, M/M, Mentions of PTSD, Mutual Pining, Plot, Slow Burn, Temporary Character Death, The Party Plays Wingman, Whetstone Ducks, canon-adjacent (I wrote a lot of this before the victory pit battle), ep. 18 spoilers!, flower-braiding, sewer-diving, team bonding!, tons of plot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-22
Updated: 2018-05-17
Packaged: 2019-04-26 10:23:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 52,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14400165
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sockablock/pseuds/sockablock
Summary: When something dangerous takes up residence in the sewers of Zadash, there's nobody else to call but the Mighty Nein. They're on the case, ready to move in a week when the moon—and the strange activity—hits its peak. At the same time, certain members of the group are beginning to notice weird things of their own; namely Mollymauk and the way one scruffy, red-haired wizard makes him feel.(or: the canon-adjacent, Widomauk-centric, plot-driven story that just kept escalating)





	1. A Tryst in the Tri-Spires

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This whole thing was inspired by @secretlifeofacloud on Tumblr who once asked me for some Widomauk
> 
> In turn I created this, a slow-burn pining extravaganza featuring the Mighty Nein Doing Their Best. Ch. I lays out emotions already there, and starts Jester on the case to get the party involved.

Caleb trailed after Mollymauk with a faint expression of dread on his face and shook his head. “But why must _we_ be the ones that must go to fetch Jester?” he asked.

The pair of them wove through the Interstead Sprawl, Molly blazing a path in a whirlwind of color and charm for Caleb and Frumpkin to follow. The afternoon sun was just beginning to make its descent, but the bustle of merchants shouting their wares and citizens milling about was still in full swing. Though the city itself was still on alert after the attack on the Zauber Spire and the strange incident of the floating object in the Pentamarket, and there were still Crownsguard stationed at the gates and the street corners, life had largely returned to normal. Normal enough for the Mighty Nein to resume their roaming through the streets without fear of being arrested, anyhow.

Molly sighed. “Fjord and Nott went to go see _you-know-who_ at the Evening Nip for work, since he likes 'em the best. Beau is holding our research at the Archive since she’s technically one of the monks there. Yasha is off…Yasha-ing. And Jester can’t get _herself_ , since she and the do-deca thingy in her bag—which is why we need her right now, I might add—are currently sitting in the Pillow Trove waiting for a package that I will eat my coat for if it ever arrives.” 

“Ok, _ja_ , let me amend that,” Caleb sighed, “Why do _I_ have to come? I could have kept researching. That last book about the cultural ceremonies of major denizens of the Underdark was very promising. And then by the time you got back, Beau and I would be ready to compare notes.”

“Oh, I believe you there, dear,” grinned Molly, “but that would mean _I_ would have to try and charm my way into the Tri-Spire all on my lonesome. And you wouldn’t want that.”

“Why? You are very charming, it would be fine, would it not?”

Molly suddenly started coughing violently. “Are you alright?” Caleb asked with a start. 

Mollymauk held his hand up for a moment, then said with only a slightly-strained grin, “I’m fine. Air went down the wrong way, or something like that. I was _going_ to say that yes, while I am rather charming, I also look quite like some of the types roaming around in Xhorhas, coincidentally the same country where the terrorists that just tried to take down the Zauber Spire were from. And unlike you and Jester, I do not have a rapport with the fine gentlemen that guard the entrances.”

“Yes, but you remember that I was denied entry a number of times before, yes? I look like a hobo.”

“Right. But between my cleanliness and your human-ness, and my charm and your familiar face, we are just one charismatic, hygienic…entity on the way to fetch our friend. We should be fine.”

\----------------------

“No entry,” said the guard. “This part of the city is on lockdown." Behind him, the quiet cobbled streets seemed to suggest a significant lack of foot traffic.

“But…but we aren’t going to cause any trouble," Caleb tried. "We’re just here to fetch someone. The blue tiefling that came by this morning. You’ve seen us together before. You’ve seen me in the Tri-Spires before,” he added desperately.

“That doesn’t change anything. She had a key for her room in the Pillow Trove. Do you also have a key?” he asked, doubt written clearly across his face.

“No,” muttered Caleb. 

“Then tough luck,” said the guard. “Only people that get in are the ones living here or working here.”

“I do,” blurted Mollymauk suddenly from Caleb’s side. “I work here.”

The guard’s focus immediately shifted to the lavender-skinned tiefling in the ridiculous technicolor coat. “Do you? Where?”

Caleb’s took a deep breath. 

“In…in the Silken Terrace,” said Molly. 

“Really? _Where_ in the Silken Terrace?”

Caleb’s stomach tied itself into a knot. _Any second, now…_

Molly put a hand under his jaw and leaned into them as if in thought. The guard raised an eyebrow and sighed. But then, Molly slowly trailed his fingers down his neck and over his chest until he got to the front of his linen shirt. Caleb and the guard watched with shock as he tugged the already low cut even lower and grinned suggestively. Caleb almost choked on the breath he’d been holding. 

“The Triumph Chime,” said Molly, and winked.

The guard’s demeanor instantly shifted. “Oh, uh, I see,” he said. “But why are you with a…a client from outside the Tri-Spires?”

“Met ‘im inside, actually,” said Molly brain now racing at a thousand miles a second, “but we decided to go drinking for a bit in one of the rowdier taverns. You know, to get us into the proper _mood_.”

The guard’s face was now a deep, flushed crimson. “Right, right,” he said, and immediately stepped aside. 

“I cannot _believe_ you, Mollymauk Tealeaf,” Caleb muttered after they walked past. “I-I mean…”

He glanced up at his companion, who was wearing an enormous, shit-eating grin. “Enjoy the show?” Molly teased. 

“I-I…” Caleb tried.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” chuckled Molly. “I guess I really could have gotten in by myself, then. Ah, but then what would be the fun in that?”

“I…I cannot _believe_ you, Mollymauk Tealeaf.”

Before Molly could respond, a voice called out from behind them. “Hey! Hey, wait!”

They turned around. The guard had recovered, mostly, and was now scuttling over to them. “Look, you really can’t be wandering around like this. Investigations are still going on and the streets might not be safe. Let me escort you there, alright?”

Their eyes briefly met. Molly’s were saying, _don’t worry, let’s just play along._ Caleb’s broadcasted, _oh, fuck, oh, fuck, oh fuck._

“Of course, sir. Lead the way.” Molly pulled Caleb in close, hanging onto the shorter man’s arm, and gestured for the guard to walk on.

Somewhat flustered again, he did.

\----------------------

The second they made their way into the courtyard, walked beneath the strings of lights and multicolored triangle flags, passed through the stone archway, cleared the rose briars, creeping bluebells, and squat pansies, left the guard blushing at the door, and slipped into the Scarlet Embrace, Molly steered Caleb away from the small crowd in the lobby and through the nearest door, which led into a hallway full of more closed doors.

Caleb let out a heavy exhale, and Molly patted him on the hand. “There we go, that’s it. See? It all worked out.”

“I still cannot _believe_ that it did,” Caleb sighed.

Molly pouted. “What, are you saying I’m not pretty enough to be your evening companion?”

Caleb balked, and quickly looked at the ground. “No, no, that’s not it. I just…I’m just impressed by your quick thinking.”

Molly leaned in closer. “Oh? And is that all you were impressed by?”

Eyes still on the floor, Caleb completely missed the flicker of…something that passed across Molly’s face when he said, “Let’s just get out of here now. Beau is still waiting at the—”

The handle of the door to the hallway turned. A woman in a rather sheer gown walked through, leading a nervous-looking young man by the hand. But before Caleb could even register the panic erupting in his chest, Molly had grabbed him by the waist, pinned him to the wall, and furiously pressed his lips against Caleb’s. His horns made a slight _clink_ as they hit the wooden panels right above Caleb’s shocked expression. His jewelry jingled. This close, pressed together, Molly could feel the wizard’s heart racing. He wondered whether it was because of the shock, or because—

“A _hem_ ,” said the woman from behind them. 

Molly turned around, and took a step back. He caught the briefest flash of a profoundly dazed expression plastered across Caleb’s face, and wished he could have had longer to enjoy it. “Can I help you?” he asked with a dazzling smile.

She had her arms crossed. “Oh, good, you speak Common. You’re blocking my room.”

“My apologies.” Molly swept Caleb behind him and moved them both backwards. “Enjoy your evening.”

The woman grabbed her patron and brushed past roughly. “Exotics,” she scoffed, and closed the door.

“I would say _fuck you too_ ,” Molly mused, “but I think somebody else has that covered. Shall we get going?” he asked, turning around. 

Caleb wore a deep scowl. “That was disgusting,” he said.

Molly’s heart plummeted. “Well,” he tried, “well, sorry if—”

Caleb hastily held up a hand. “ _Nein_ , not…not that. We can discuss that later. I _meant_ what that woman said.” 

Relief flooded through him, and he almost wanted to kiss the man again. Molly grinned and waved his hand dismissively. “Ah, don’t worry about it,” he said. “It’s nothing new for a tiefling.”

Their eyes met. “It shouldn’t be that way,” Caleb said firmly. “You don’t deserve that. People like that woman, they can fuck off.”

Molly thought of something charming to say. But under the weight of Caleb’s intense gaze, he found himself unable to respond.

He felt Caleb reaching for his hand. “Let’s go now, _ja_? The others are probably wondering what’s taking us so long.”

He nodded and trailed after the wizard. “I know that’s the way it should be,” he said after a moment, “but that’s not how most people think.” And before Caleb could interject, Molly squeezed his hand and said, “Thank you, though. It was nice to hear it said out loud. And I’m…ah….I’m glad it was you.”

Caleb didn’t respond, but Molly could have sworn that under the dust and scraggly ginger facial hair, he was blushing again.

\----------------------

“Ca- _leb_ …” Jester grinned and leaned in until she was just under his chin. “Caleb something looks _different_ about you.” She waggled her eyebrows in an impressive feat of mischief-driven dexterity. “Caleb…did something _happen_?”

She looked over at Molly, who was busying himself with his card deck, and winked. Molly wasn’t sure what it meant, but the whole scenario delighted him nonetheless. 

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Jester,” tried Caleb. “Now come on, Beau and I need you back at the Archive.”

She turned her head quickly, nearly smacking him in the jaw with her horns. “Caleb…you can tell me, Caleb! My mother was a courtesan, I _know_ that look, Caleb.” 

“Jester, if you are implying that I have been…partaking in evening trysts any time in the recent past, you are unfortunately rather mistaken.”

Jester beamed. “No, no, that’s a way different look. You look like you just got kissed by someone you _like_. Like, _like_ -like.”

Molly fumbled with the deck, and seventy-eight cards tumbled onto the ground. Jester and Caleb looked over at him. 

“Are you alright, Molly?” Jester asked sweetly. 

“Yes, dear, I’m perfectly alright.”

“Here, let me help!” She shoved the bag of holding into Caleb’s bewildered arms, and flounced over to Molly. As she knelt down next to him she whispered, “ _Caleb has glitter on his lips._ ”

Infernal. “ _Jester, I think you’re reading a bit too much into the situation. There were some shenanigans to get in here, nothing more than that._ ”

She passed the last card over. “ _If you ever want some help, you know who to ask. You've got the look too, Molly. I promise I won’t pretend to be you and make him wear your girdle._ ”

Molly snorted and stood up. “Thank you, Jester,” he said in Common, “for all your help.”

She gave him a radiant smile. “Shall we get going?” she asked. 

And as they walked out of the Pillow Trove and onto the street, Molly trailing just a bit behind the others, only one thought ran through his mind. _You look like you just got kissed by someone you like._

He ran a hand through his hair. “Fuck,” he muttered softly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Consider checking me out [@sockablock](https://www.sockablock.tumblr.com) on Tumblr! Comments and Kudos keep me going, and I hope you enjoyed this <3


	2. Private Conversations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Gang Gets Involved, featuring Molly's speculations and Caleb's first thoughts

Unable to focus, Caleb put down his book turned towards Nott, who was seated on the floor. Her tongue poked out of the corner of her mouth as she peeled bandages off of her arms and assessed their degrees of cleanliness. 

He took a deep breath and asked, as nonchalantly as possible, “What do you think of Mollymauk?”

Nott didn’t look up. “I don’t really think of him much,” she said. “And I don’t really think that much of him.”

Caleb bit his lip. “Why?”

She shrugged. “He doesn’t like me. He ignores things I say sometimes and always treats me like a little kid. Which I’m _not_. He’s only two years old, anyways."

Caleb wasn’t sure how to address that last part yet, so he opted not to. Instead, he said, “I can see why you feel that way, but I’m certain that’s not completely it. He does appreciate your skills, if anything. And we haven’t been a group for very long. I believe most of your interactions with one another have been under somewhat tense circumstances, so they might not be the best frame of reference.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well…during that whole Zone of Truth thing he was rather agitated. So, when he lashed out I don’t think it was because of any anger towards you specifically.”

“You think so?”

“ _Ja._ And I do understand his concern with our behavior. He’s just afraid of anything that could endanger the group, especially since we’re the only ones he has now that the circus is gone. That’s what I think, regardless.”

Nott met Caleb’s thoughtful gaze. Her eyes were slightly narrowed. “Have you been doing a _lot_ of thinking about Molly?”

“What? No!” He cursed inwardly as he felt a faint blush creep over his cheeks. “I’ve just been…you know…pondering over what’s good for the group. He unloaded a lot the other night about his past, or his lack of a past, I suppose, and I was considering how that might tie into our travels…”

He trailed off. Nott was giving him a very specific look that he wasn’t sure how to place.

“Uh-huh,” she said. “And that’s the only reason you’ve been thinking about Molly? For the future of the group and whatnot?”

“...yes.”

“It doesn’t really change much for me,” she shrugged. “All of us have got baggage, apparently.”

Caleb tried for a joke. “Says a lot about the people we’re travelling with, _ja_?” 

“I like Jester,” Nott said. “Yasha’s scary and mysterious, but alright. I’ve got my eye on the rest.” 

After that, the only sound was Nott tearing apart one of the tavern’s blankets to make more wrappings, and Frumpkin’s claws skittering on the wooden floors as he chased a scrap of fabric around. Caleb sat on the bed and stewed in his own tumultuous thoughts.

\----------------------

Molly leaned against the headboard and unsubtly appreciated the sight of Fjord practicing strokes with his falchion. He wasn’t as interested in _this_ party member, but that didn’t mean he would pass up perfectly fine entertainment for free. That could be changed, of course, but that depended on—

“Caleb seemed a bit weird at dinner tonight,” Fjord mused as he swept his sword through the air. “Weirder than usual, I mean.”

Behind his back, Molly’s tail started to twitch. “Oh? How so?” he asked.

Fjord gave a shrug. “He’d been talking a bit more to us, recently. But tonight he didn’t say a word. Not even when Beau challenged Nott to a drinking contest. Not even when Beau lost to Nott in the drinking contest.”

“He’s a quiet guy,” said Molly, and reached over for his tarot cards. “He was probably thinking of a new spell or something.”

Fjord did not seem to wholly convinced. “Maybe,” he said. “Nothing odd happened when you two went to the Tri-Spire today, did it? Nobody was particularly nasty to him and nobody kicked Frumpkin or anything?”

Molly leaned forward. “You care quite a bit about Caleb, huh?”

“Uh…yes? We’re all sort of friends, I think. We are traveling together. We should care, right? Besides, Caleb and Nott have been doing great working more with the group and I want it to stay that way.”

“For the group?”

“Of course. Molly, are you alright? _Did_ something—"

“Nope!” Molly gave a cheerful grin. “It was honestly surprisingly smooth sailing. You’d think the guard would give people looking like me and looking like him a harder time, but they fell for our charms right away.”

“Right.” 

Molly scrabbled for something else to talk about. He looked down, and saw he was holding a card depicting a woman wrapped in blue silks, seated between two columns. 

“How’s Jester?” he blurted out.

Fjord lowered his sword slightly and gave Molly a curious look. “How do you mean?”

Molly hung onto this new thread like a lifeline. “You know…how’s everything _going_ between you two?”

Now the faintest blush dusted Fjord’s cheeks. “I’m not sure I understand what you’re saying.”

“I think you do, Oskar.”

Fjord put his sword down on the chest at the foot of the bed. “ _I_ think you’re a bit confused there, friend. There’s nothing…going on between us.”

“Maybe,” grinned Molly. “But I’m pretty sure she wants there to be. She is quite adorable, you’ve got to admit that.”

“I-well…yes, sure, but we barely know each other. I mean we’ve only been travelling together for a few weeks.”

“Sometimes a few weeks can be plenty,” said Molly, and then realized his mistake.

Fjord raised an eyebrow. “Are you speaking from experience? I was actually meaning to ask about what you said the other day under Zone of Truth, if you don’t mind, about if you found anybody in the party attract—”

Molly quickly shook his head. His jewelry jangled. “Nope. We’re doing your love life right now, not mine.”

“So you _do_ have a love life?” 

For a moment, Molly considered a delightfully-crafted retort detailing the absolutely real and truthful numerous romantic escapades he had been partner to. His definitely existing and extensive background as an enchanting lover in the moonlight. Then he sighed inwardly.

“I don’t,” Molly said just a bit too bitterly. “Unfortunately.”

Fjord looked like he was about to say something. And Molly, who was suddenly in no mood to continue this conversation, frantically acted to halt the conversation. Without much thought about the potential danger, he punched the candle off the bedside table, promptly flipped over on the bed, yanked the covers over his head, and buried his face into the pillow.

“Wow, I’m really tired now and I’m going to bed,” he faked an exaggerated yawn.

“What the fuck, uh…good night?” came Fjord’s voice. 

“Good night, Fjord Tough, don’t hurt yourself on the sword, sorry I turned the light off.”

“I have darkvision, Molly. And that’s not—”

“Excellent,” said Molly. “Now I don’t feel guilty at all.”

“Er…what just hap—”

“Good _night_ , Fjord Tough.”

There was a moment’s pause. Then, in the darkness, Molly could hear Fjord mutter, “That’s not my name, Lucien.”

A small price to pay for dodging the conversation.

\----------------------

“And I’m sure that they love each other _so much_!” yelled Jester. “They just have to _talk_ about it, but they’re so bad at feelings I just _know_ that they won’t.”

Beau groaned. “Why are you _telling_ me this, Jester?”

“Because we have to help! You should have seen their faces, it was like reading _Tusk Love_ all over again.” 

“Why should I care about getting these two idiots together? They’re grown-ups, I’m sure they’ll manage it sooner or later. And I literally don’t care at all about either of them.”

Jester sighed. “Beau?”

“Yeah?”

“If Molly starts dating Caleb, he’s going to spend less time hanging around Yasha.”

She sat up. “How can I help?” she asked.

Jester reached over and gave her a pat on the hand. “Just you wait. I’ve got a great plan.”

\----------------------

Molly did end up falling asleep comically early that night, so the next morning when he walked downstairs for breakfast, he was one of the only patrons in the tavern. After exchanging a few amicable words with Clay Owens, the barkeep, he dragged a plate of sausages over to a small booth in the corner and sat down with his boots on the bench.

Numerous thoughts jostled for attention. Some were just the ever-present fuzzy impressions of whatever his irrelevant past life could recall. Some were the standard _isn’t-Beau-annoying’s_ , accompanied now by a couple _Fjord-snores-much-too-loud’s_. Mostly, he was trying to untangle his feelings about a certain human wizard. 

Yes, the man seemed to have a constant dusting of dirt, likely from the ratty coat and his frequent refusals to bathe and his tendency to let Frumpkin climb all over him. But Molly woke up in a pit in the earth, for the gods’ sake, and then spent two years travelling with caravan-dwelling circus people, so this wasn’t anything too deterring. 

Caleb also had a tendency to retreat from the party and not share everything he knew and collect spoils without saying a word to everybody else. But Molly had also noticed that Fjord was wearing new armor, and that Jester had mentioned “the money Caleb gave me” a few times, which led him to believe that Caleb wasn’t as much of an untrustworthy asshole as he seemed. If anything, it was probably his strange way of making friends, which Molly could sympathize with even if he wished the man would be a bit more communicative.

And then there were the things that Molly liked. Caleb himself wasn’t bad to look at, past the grime, and Molly found he rather liked the fiery color of the wizard’s hair, and definitely liked the piercing blue of his eyes. He was a fan of the accent, and a very big fan of watching him during battles. The damage the man could do—even from a distance—was devastating, as well as the way his jawline hardened, his gaze intensified, the casual confidence of his nimble fingers as he guided them through the air and breathed strange, unknowable commands over the arcane. That one time he quite literally blasted a bandit into ash within seconds. The contrast between Caleb the coward who hid from the front lines and Caleb the quick-thinking and skilled mage who could mean the difference between victory or death was fascinating to Molly.

There was something else, too, that he hadn’t really thought about until Jester had flooded the room with divine light and prevented everybody from lying. 

Before, Molly had the circus. They had helped Molly create…Molly, as well as navigate a world he had no memory of. After it disbanded, he had found himself scrambling to hold together his own identity. Having Yasha around, bless her heart, had helped significantly, yet with her frequent disappearances he couldn’t help but feel lost.

But now he knew that Caleb believed in second chances. That Caleb did not need the past. That Caleb believed in _him_ , Mollymauk Tealeaf, and was satisfied with that. 

Satisfied for now, anyway. Somehow, Molly found it exhilarating that Caleb would want something more from him in the future. He hoped it was the same thing he wanted from Caleb.

He sighed, and traced his fingers over the wood grain on the table.

What _did_ Caleb want? Yesterday, he had called Molly charming, which was a good sign. He got angry at the bigoted woman, but that might have been more about basic decency and respect than Molly specifically. The man had blushed furiously at every flirtatious comment Molly threw his way but had not returned any, instead opting to change the subject every time. That could have been awkwardness or disinterest; Molly couldn’t tell there. And then there was that _kiss_ , absolutely a product of necessity although in retrospect Molly probably could have just faked one. He hadn’t wanted to, though, and now a piece of him felt awful for stealing it. Hopefully Caleb didn’t mind, but if he _had_ —

Completely lost in thought, Molly almost didn’t notice when Nott sat down on the opposite side of the booth and pulled his now-cold breakfast across the table.

Almost. He looked up, eyebrow raised. “Good morning, Nott. Can I help you?”

Nott gave him a calculated look, then shoved a sausage into her mouth. “I’m not sure,” she said, after chewing. “That depends on some things.”

Molly leaned in. “Some things?”

Nott seemed to be searching for the right words. Then, “Do you ever think about Caleb?”

He burst into laughter, which startled Nott as well as everybody else in the tavern. Clay gave him an inquisitive look before shrugging it off.

“What’s so funny?” Nott asked suspiciously.

_All I seem able to do lately is think of Caleb, that’s what._

“Sorry, sorry,” Molly said. “I think the question just caught me off guard. Why are you asking?”

Nott gave a frustrated sigh, and took the opportunity to eat another sausage. “I was just wondering. Caleb was…worried? About you. Last night.”

Molly blinked. “About me? Why?”

Nott drummed her fingers on the tabletop. “Dunno. It was kind of confusing and I didn’t really get his reasoning. But it was about your past and all that.”

“My past?”

“He was concerned it was bugging you or something. I don’t know. You should ask him. It was super weird and confusing I don’t want it to happen again.”

Molly gave her a crooked grin. “Why? You don’t like it when your boy worries about me?”

Nott scowled. “I don’t like it when my boy _worries_. ‘S not always about you,” she added reproachfully. 

“Thanks for letting me know, I think,” Molly conceded.

“You’re welcome. I’m going to go get some alcohol. Thanks for the sausages.”

And she picked up his tray and walked over to the bar. Molly didn’t bother trying to stop her.

\----------------------

“So, have we thought about what job we wanna take next?” Fjord asked.

The entire party was awake now and had gathered in Molly’s booth for breakfast. Hot food adorned their tabletop, and flagons of cider were distributed among them except for Jester, who was drinking milk, and Nott, who was carefully pouring something into her now-endless flask. Fjord sat next to Molly, with Beau on his left. Across the table were Jester, Nott, and Caleb, who had somehow ended up directly across from Molly. He had Frumpkin in his lap, and was busying himself with the purring cat and not looking up.

Molly wasn’t sure how to feel about that.

“I like the idea of clearing out the underground tunnels,” said Beau. “Sounds easy, sounds like something we’d be good at.”

“I think we’ve spent too much time underground,” Jester pouted. “My dress is very gross and we haven’t gotten a chance to get our stuff cleaned yet.”

“One of the open jobs was to pick up a shipment from the Egelin Quarry,” suggested Nott. “That one doesn’t seem too bad.”

“Eh…maybe not,” said Fjord. “I wouldn’t want to get caught with contraband by the Crownsguard. Especially now, given how tense the security is.”

“You-know-who said it was a legal purchase, though,” Jester added. “It’s not a smuggling or anything.”

“Now Jester, I understand what he said, but I’m not entirely sure we should believe him.”

“ _Ja,_ ” said Caleb, “I personally do not completely trust the sweaty blue crime boss living in the basement.”

“Maybe we should just stick to another tunnel-clearing session,” said Molly. “It’s probably a sign of trust or something that you-know-who is letting us wander through his subterranean subterfuge systems.”

“That’s a lot of S’s,” commented Jester. “Ok, I’ll do it.” 

“Because of the number of s’s?” Fjord asked.

“Sure, why not?”

“You’re inscrutable,” said Beau. Nobody argued. 

“Let’s go over and let him know after breakfast," said Fjord after a moment. "Then we can spend the rest of the day gearing up and getting ready, and we can take on the mission tomorrow. Sound good?”

There was a chorus of agreement. Then Jester added, “But, Molly, you shouldn’t come with us to the Evening Nip until it’s time to go.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Why not, dear?”

“Kree is always there,” she pointed out. “And every time Kree sees you, she gets all crazy and calls you weird names and I think she’s starting to get kind of antsy about how many answers you _aren’t_ giving.”

Molly considered this point. It was completely valid. “Alright, alright. I’ll just hang around here and tell a few fortunes or something. I guess that would save another unnecessary confrontation.”

“Great! And Caleb can keep you company!”

Five pairs of eyes instantly swiveled towards her. 

“Er…why _me_?” Caleb asked. Molly was torn between complete agreement and a sudden disappointment with the question. 

“You talked the least to you-know-who, and then we wouldn’t be leaving Molly all alone. Which would be mean and rude.” 

“If Caleb’s gonna be here, I’ll stay too,” Nott said. “I can use the time to make more acid.”

“No!” said Beau, startling the party. “I mean…I mean we’ll need you to come again. You went last time with Fjord, and you know Thieves’ Cant, which might be useful, you never know. Plus you’re one of the most shady of all of us and you fit in perfectly.”

“Er…thank you? I think? But I still think—”

“Please, Nott? Pretty please?” Jester leaned across Caleb, almost landing in Frumpkin, and stuck her face in front of the little Goblin’s. “Please? I will miss you so _much_ if you don’t.”

Nott gave her a long, confused look. “Um…alright then. I’ll come with,” she said eventually.

Jester yanked her into a hug, this time sending Frumpkin skittering onto the ground and causing Caleb to frown in puzzlement. “Great!” she declared. “Let’s all eat very fast now and not choke and then go do definitely legal and not-sketchy work for a weird sweaty blue man.”

\----------------------

“Jester, is there a reason why you volunteered Caleb to stay with Molly?” Fjord asked.

“And why I couldn’t stay?” added Nott reproachfully. 

“Oh, yes!” she said cheerfully. 

Nott tugged on the end of her cloak. “What was it?”

“Unresolved sexual tension,” said Jester, and Fjord nearly choked.

“She thinks they have a _thing_ for each other,” sighed Beau after the half-orc had recovered. “She wants them to work it out but she thinks at least one of them will be too awkward to, so her master plan for getting them together is to force them to spend more time alone, until they get comfortable enough to talk about their feelings, or something.”

“Why do _you_ know that?” Nott asked. 

“I told her!” said Jester.

Nott spun around. “And why do _you_ know that?”

“I just know these things. I am an expert at love and a very good detective.”

Nott gave Beau a look. “And you’re gonna go along with this? 

She shrugged. “Yep.”

“ _Why_?”

“I have my reasons.”

Nott and Fjord exchanged a look. “Yasha,” they said, simultaneously.

“Fuck you guys,” Beau scowled.

They continued walking in silence for a few moments. Then Fjord said slowly, “I don’t know if it’s a good idea to get involved.”

“Why?” Jester asked. 

“Well, it’s not our business. It’s something they should work out for themselves.”

“Oh, but they will,” said Jester cheerfully. “We’re just giving them a chance to.”

Fjord opened his mouth, then closed it again. “Yeah. Actually, yeah, that is what we’re doing.”

Nott frowned. “I don’t think it’ll work, though,” she said. “Caleb doesn’t like talking about personal stuff, especially with people he doesn’t know that well. No offense.”

“None taken!” beamed Jester. “Don’t worry, though, I’m sure we’ll get it to work eventually. We just have to keep forcing them to hang out.”

“Er…doesn’t that seem a little underhanded?” asked Fjord. 

Beau shrugged. “If it doesn’t work we can just give up, and they’ll figure it out eventually.”

Nott was silent for a moment. Then shoved her hands into her pockets. “I don’t really _want_ it to work,” she said sulkily.

“Aww…but why?” Jester asked. “Kids have to grow up eventually and Molly’s not that bad. He’s nice and he’s good at fighting and he cares a lot about all of us.”

“Yeah,” said Beau. “I don’t like Molly either, but there’s definitely something there.”

“Oh, no,” Nott said, “it’s not that. Caleb’s very smart, he can handle himself. I just don’t want to have to share a room with Fjord.”

Fjord frowned. “Excuse me?”

“If Molly and Caleb end up together we’re going to have to share a room. And you snore.” 

Jester and Beau were both snickering. Fjord drew himself up and said, calmly, “Now, Nott, we wouldn’t necessarily have to share a room. Even if we did, that would be something worry about much later. And I don’t snore.”

“You do,” said Jester cheerfully. Then she turned towards the goblin. “And it’s okay! You can sleep with Beau and me.”

“As long as you don’t steal any of our shit,” added Beau.

Nott considered this. “Alright,” she conceded. “It means I don’t have to wear pants in the room anymore.”

“You already don’t do that sometimes,” Fjord muttered.

“And nobody will be bothered by it,” Nott grinned. 

Jester glanced back at the Song and Supper Inn, fading into the background behind them. “Oh, I hope it goes well!” she said. “Otherwise we’re going to have to try so much harder.” 

Beau waved her hand dismissively. “They’ll be fine,” she said lightly. “And even if they don’t end up talking, what’s the worst that could happen?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I felt really bad for how short the last part was, and I overcompensated. I think I'm going to write chapters more around this length from now on, though, so updates will probably be every 5-6 days, depending on final exams! Hopefully this will carry you guys over until next time. Thank you so much for reading, and I super appreciate Comments and Kudos <333
> 
> Consider checking me out [@sockablock](https://www.sockablock.tumblr.com) on tumblr!


	3. The “B” Stands for “Beer”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, here's the next chapter! Featuring: a word count I have never before achieved in a single part; angst from dear, sweet Mollymauk; the Gang Coming Together; and a very, very, very addled Caleb

The silence ate away at Molly.

Caleb had pulled out one of his leather-bound tomes and unfurled a scroll and was now furiously copying the strange symbols from the parchment into his book. He had quietly mumbled something about “not disturbing me, _bitte_ ,” and then had completely retreated into his work, leaving Molly with nothing to do.

Molly knew exactly what Jester was planning, but the blasted girl’s logic had been sound enough that he couldn’t have protested without raising the group’s suspicions, or offending Caleb. 

It would have been better if the group had just left him alone. At least then he could be conflicted in peace. At least then he wouldn’t have to try and muffle his internal monologue. At least then he could suffer in solitude. So, with nothing better to do, Molly fished his tarot deck out of the pouch on his side and began shuffling it in his hands. The time-worn edges of the cards, and their smooth rise and fall, felt a bit like home. 

_Don’t fuck me_ , he thought, and slid the top three off and onto the table. Manipulating the deck without actually _manipulating_ it was rather odd, but Molly felt like the random whims of the universe—or the Moonweaver, if she was listening—would be more reliable right now than his own attempt at carving out the next step.

He turned over the first card. Past. The image showed a cloaked figure in the night slipping through a dark doorway. It carried seven swords. Molly considered this. Evasiveness and a need to avoid direct confrontation _did_ seem rather appropriate for the circumstances.

The next card, Present, showed a two-faced woman and a three-headed dog standing beneath the moon. Molly tried not to roll his eyes. He didn’t need psychic abilities to know he was muddled in uncertainty and confusion. This reading was supposed to be a _yes, and?_

He flipped over the Future, and sighed. A man with bulging muscles strangled a lion in a dark cave. And apparently, he was supposed to be confronting the truth of things. He didn’t want to. He’d been putting it off for a reason. And yet, according to the deck, soon he would have the strength to speak his mind. Tarot really was a load of horseshite when Molly wasn’t fabricating the outcomes. 

Annoyed, he drummed his fingers over the cards, and glanced between them and Caleb. There was no way he could actually say something. He didn’t want to act at all without being completely sure, and things were nowhere near certain the way they were. In the last few hours, Molly had decided the wizard was just a mess of mixed signals, and until Caleb decided to say something he’d be content with friendly flirting from a distance. Yeah. That wouldn’t be too bad, and Caleb at least didn’t seem opposed to—

“Mollymauk. I am sorry, but I cannot concentrate when you are staring at me like that,” Caleb said suddenly. 

Molly snapped back to reality. “Oh, sorry about that. I must have spaced out. I didn’t realize I was looking at you. I can leave you to your work if—"

Caleb shook his head and closed the book. “It’s alright,” he said softly. “I think we need to talk a bit, actually.”

Molly felt his heart rate begin to pick up. The Seven of Swords was feeling like a pretty good option at the moment. In his panic, he cranked up the charm. “Yes, dear?” he asked.

Caleb looked into Molly’s eyes. They were always quite hard to read, no clear pupils to help him discern the tiefling’s emotions. Molly had tarot cards spread before him on the table, and Caleb was starting to wish he had something to guide him at the moment as well. He settled for snapping Frumpkin—who had been sunbathing in the windowsill—into his lap and stroking the exasperated tabby’s fur.

“I…” he tried. “I…ah…” 

Molly gave him a sympathetic look. “I wanted to say something as well. If you would like, I could go first?”

Caleb looked relieved.

Molly fidgeted with the corner of the Strength card. “I just wanted,” he said, “I just wanted to make sure there were no misunderstandings.” 

Caleb nodded, and looked rather satisfied. “I as well,” he said. 

For a moment, Molly considered reaching out and taking Caleb’s hand. He settled for picking at the edges of his sleeves. “Caleb, you know you are very important to me, right?” 

Caleb’s cheeks began to color. “Oh. Uh…you as well, of course.”

“And because you are important to me, I want you to know that I am willing to listen to anything you might have to say. I know you think I’m a lot of bluster and color and noise, and that’s largely true, but I can also calm down for you, if you would like. And I am here for you, in case there is something you would like to tell me, or in case I am ever doing something wrong, or if you just wanted to talk…”

Caleb was staring at his hands now, and Molly’s heart sank. Perhaps—

“Thank you, Mollymauk,” said Caleb. He looked up, and his eyes held a mix of relief and joy, but also…a strange sadness. “I appreciate that.”

“So, er, is there anything you want to say…?”

Caleb took a deep breath. “Actually...there is.” 

Molly leaned in. “Yes?”

Caleb took a deep breath. “You…you are a very charming individual, and that is not something up for debating. However, I have noticed recently that you have a tendency to make comments that frequently contain suggestive undertones. And while I am sure it can be great fun, and Fjord and Jester enjoy it immensely, I am not entirely comfortable with it. I know you are doing it for laughs and for jokings, but maybe you could direct them more towards the others? That sort of banter is not my cup of tea, as they say.” 

Molly sat back against the bench, and his jewelry _clinked_ gently. “You would rather I stop flirting with you so much?”

The energy seemed to have leaked out of the tiefling and in his guilt, Caleb tried to explain. “I…call us old-fashioned, but in the Zemni Fields, romantic comments are usually reserved for those who feel the same about one another. And I know you enjoy being flirtatious, but others might read into our relationship strangely, or there might be confusing connotations that muddle our own thoughts. It is more straightforward when there is no room for misunderstanding, as you said before.”

Molly’s face was unknowable. Eventually, he said, “I see.”

Caleb breathed a small sigh of relief. “ _Danke_ , I’m glad you understand.”

Molly swept the cards back into the deck in a single, practiced motion. “Yes,” he said slowly. “It cleared up a few things for me, as well.” He looked up to Caleb with a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “I’m going out to run a few errands, now. I’ll be back in a few hours.”

“Oh, ah…of course. I will likely still be here. Thank you again for this talk, _ja_?”

Molly did not turn around. Over his shoulder he said, “Yeah. And in case there was any confusion, think nothing of that kiss, alright? It was the best cover I could come up with, then.”

Caleb blinked. “Yes, yes, it was a good idea.”

“I’m glad you think so,” said Molly, and walked out the door. 

Caleb looked down at his cat. “I’m not sure how that went, Frumpkin.”

The tabby looked back at him and meowed mournfully. 

“Yes, I think you might be right. But it was just…so much. Molly is always so much to handle, and I had to do something. Even if I feel bad for taking his fun away.”

Frumpkin purred. Caleb sighed, and as he stroked the cat’s fur, went back to reading his scroll.

\------------------

“All things considered,” said Fjord, “I thought that went pretty well.”

“Do you think you-know-who minded that the bar caught fire?” Jester asked.

The group moved through the streets of Zadash, crammed full of pedestrians, cheerful merchants, and the occasional cartload of produce as the noon sun hung far above. Fjord still had soot smeared on his face. Beauregard’s eyebrows were slightly singed. Jester’s bodice was covered in ash. Nott, who had been too short to catch the blast, looked the same as always. Which meant she still looked mangy and suspicious as hell, but in an oddly endearing way.

“Nah,” said Fjord. “I think it was fine.”

“They got the fire out pretty quickly,” said Nott.

“And I think the Gentle—I mean, you-know-who—was actually pretty entertained,” added Beau.

“I was,” said Jester. 

As the roof of the inn came into focus for all except Nott, Beau turned to the others. “How do you think it went?” she asked.

“Probably super really duper well,” said Jester.

“They probably didn’t even talk to one another,” shrugged Nott.

“Are we even sure they like each other?” Fjord asked. “Like, I know you’re sure, but are you _really sure_?”

“Yes!” Jester bounced up and down. “Of course they do, it is so obvious.”

Beau frowned. “It’s really obvious for Molly, but I’m still not entirely sure about Caleb,” she said. 

“How are you so sure with Molly?” Nott asked. “He flirts with anything that moves.” 

“Yeah,” said Beau, “but that’s empty flirting. He’s just doing that for fun. With Caleb it’s _way_ more deliberate.”

“How do you know?” 

“He blushes when he says things, and he always watches Caleb’s eyes for a reaction. With everyone else it’s all bluster and grinning and winking and he could care less if they responded.”

“You’re very observant,” remarked Fjord.

“I’m a monk,” said Beau, “it’s in the job description. Plus, I like being nosy.”

“Caleb definitely probably isn’t even thinking about Molly,” Nott said. 

“Definitely-probably?” Fjord asked.

“I mean…he _did_ mention Molly last night, but it was only briefly. He never talks about his feelings.”

“So…we’re running the risk that this is a one-sided sort of affection, then?” Fjord asked. 

Jester opened her mouth. Then she closed it.” Oh, shoot,” she said. “I was so sure that it was not, though.”

Fjord gave her a kind smile. “Maybe you’re right,” he said. “Maybe they’re just bad at communication.”

They approached the inn, and Beau swore.

The group looked over. Molly had spread his coat onto the ground, symbols facing outwards, and was currently sitting cross-legged against the wall with his cards in front of him. There was, against all odds, a five-person line of workers on their lunch break waiting for a reading. Another currently sat across from Molly, looking down at a complicated tarot spread.

“Nine cards,” said Beau. “He must _really_ not want to go back inside.

“Dangit,” said Jester. “Aw, motherfucker, something happened.” 

Fjord sighed. “I’m going to go inside and let Caleb know the details.”

“I’m gonna go see if Caleb will tell me what happened,” said Nott. 

“I’m going to go get a drink,” said Beau, and brushed past the rest. “Let me know what the next step is, Jester.”

“Damn,” muttered Jester, and approached Mollymauk. 

As he saw her coming, Molly abruptly ended the fortune-telling session. “So sorry, folks,” he said to the group of workers, “but unfortunately, our time here today is up. If you’re ever in need of a peek into the future, or a path to walk on, come by the Song and Supper, and if I’m there, I’d be happy to help. Tell your friends! In the meantime, thank you for coming, and I appreciate your faith in my fortunes.”

They dispersed, looking mildly disgruntled. Molly turned to Jester and grinned. “How was the trip to the Nip?” he asked. Then he frowned. “Ew,” he added. 

Jester shook her head. “I have no idea,” she said. “There was some fire, but that part doesn’t matter. What happened when we left you alone with Caleb? Did it work?”

Something quickly flickered across Molly’s cheerful grin. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, dear.”

“You know, alone time! Did you talk about your feelings? Are you dating now?”

Molly sighed. “If we were dating now, would I have spent the last two hours busking under the sun?”

Jester’s tail drooped. “I’m sorry, Molly,” she said.

“Don’t worry, Jester, you had quite good intentions and I appreciate the sentiment.”

“Did he outright say that he wasn’t interested?” she asked.

Molly paused. “Well…sort of?”

Her tail instantly perked up. “Sort of? So not exactly?”

“He…he asked me to stop flirting with him. He said it made him uncomfortable because it’s not the kind of attention he wants from someone he doesn’t love.”

Jester’s eyes narrowed. “Is that _exactly_ what he said?” she asked.

Molly sighed. “He said that in the Zemni Fields, only people who feel the same about one another make romantic comments, or something like that. And even though I was charming, he didn’t want me to continue.”

Jester looked down at the ground. “I was so sure…” she muttered.

Molly gave her a pat on the hand and stood up. “I think I need to get some air,” he said as cheerfully as he could.

“You _are_ outside, Mollymauk,” said Jester.

He sighed. “Fresher air. A different kind of air. I’m going to go get pastries. Is there anything you would like?”

“Oh, um, yes, of course. Would you like me to come with you?”

Molly shook his head. The jewelry on his horns jingled. “No thanks,” he said softly. “I think I want to be alone for a bit.”

\------------------

“Alright, but why did the gnome have a potion of firebreathing to begin with?” Caleb asked. “And why was he trying to hit the whiskey with it?”

Fjord shrugged. “I don’t know,” he said, “but then he missed, and the—”

Jester came flouncing through the door. “Hello!” she said cheerfully. “Are we talking about the incident that happened downstairs?”

“It doesn’t sound like it really happened,” said Caleb. “Anyways, what did the—I mean, you-know-who—what job did he give us?”

“He’s sending us to clear out some underground tunnels on the eastern side of the city,” said Fjord. “Apparently there’s some pretty weird things happening, his people disappearing, strange noises and stuff like that. He wants to know what’s causing it, if there’s any treasure, and if we can take it down.”

“Probably,” Beau shrugged.

“The thing is, the weird stuff only happens once a month, at the full moon.”

Beau rolled her eyes, “Which of course, is the most needlessly dramatic thing ever.”

“The phases of the moon, and the full moon in particular, can have intense impacts on magic and arcane rites,” said Caleb. “It might be a magic user taking advantage of that.”

“That makes sense,” Fjord nodded. “We’ll find out in a week, anyways, since that’s when you-know-who expects the next round of strange activity. It’s the end of this lunar cycle, so the moon will be nice and big and ready for weird stuff to happen.”

“And then we kill it,” said Nott solemnly. 

“I’m not entirely sure about that,” Fjord said, “but sure. If we need to kill it, then sure.”

Caleb gestured to his books, still strewn across the table. “In the meantime, then, I could go to the Archive and hunt for more spells and do research on what this…thing might be, if there are any more details,” he said.

“I can help,” said Beau. “I took notes.”

“I’ll probably just work on my sword,” said Fjord, not noticing that Jester had started giggling. 

Nott looked at her flask. “I’m gonna steal everything,” she said.

“Hopefully not too much, _spatz_ ,” Caleb sighed. “We’ve just gotten back on the good side of the law.”

Beau sighed and stood up. “I’m bored,” she said, “and the food is starting to taste like nothing. Caleb, want to go to the Archive now?”

“Are books going to be less boring?” Nott asked with a raised eyebrow. 

Beau considered this. “Yes,” she said, and without waiting, collected her staff and walked towards the door.

“Please don’t kill anyone or get arrested,” Caleb said to Nott.

“No promises!” she grinned back. 

“We’ll keep an eye on her,” Fjord sighed.

“ _Danke_ ,” said Caleb, and trailed after Beau.

The second they left, Jester slammed her hands onto the table. “We’ve got a major problem,” she said.

“Oh, great,” said Nott. 

Fjord nodded. The half-orc seemed somewhat out of his depth, but supportive all the same. “I feel bad for Molly,” he said. “Maybe we should just let them be, for now.” 

“Caleb took forever to talk to me about his past,” Nott said helpfully. “Maybe we just need to keep getting them to spend time with one another.”

“Maybe we should get ‘em piss-drunk,” Fjord joked. “Alcohol is great for getting things out.”

Jester instantly brightened up. “That sounds like a great idea!” she exclaimed. 

Fjord held a hand up. “Now, Jester, I wasn’t being serious, maybe that’s just a little bit of an invasion of privacy,” he said. “What if Caleb says something he doesn’t want to, or what if Molly gets too drunk and does something stupid?”

“He always does stupid things,” Nott muttered.

It doesn’t have to be blackout drinking,” said Jester. “We can just keep them coming until they loosen up, and then we’ll see what happens. It’s not like we’re doing anything tomorrow. And besides, I think Molly could use the drink.”

“I could use some drinks too,” said Nott.

Fjord sighed, but was cut off by Jester pumping her fist into the air. “Plan B!” she said. “It will definitely work.”

\------------------

“It has only been a day, so far, so that might be why, but I am still quite unsure as to what we might be facing next week,” said Caleb at the table. He had a notebook open in front of him.

Their hard-won day of idleness had come and gone, without much new information uncovered. Caleb and Beau had spent hours pouring through the resources of the Archives, but without much detail to begin with— _creepy lights, people disappearing, weird groaning, and then nothing_ —speculation could only take them so far. In the interim, Jester had loaded up on pastries and medicinal supplies; Fjord had worked up quite a good session in the Song and Supper’s courtyard; Molly had returned after a few hours looking a little less somber (having made quite a bit of change in fortune-telling money); and Nott had acquired three necklaces, two rings, nine shiny stones, an ivory cane, and a sack full of buttons. Jester had also filled Beauregard in on the details of their next plan of action.

“As far as we’ve got, the groaning could be coming from some kind of beast, or some sort of undead,” said Beau. 

Molly perked up. “Undead sounds good,” he said. “I can deal with that.” 

“Is that a Lucien thing?” Nott asked.

Molly opened his mouth to respond, but Caleb, still staring at his notes, gently shushed his companion and said, “Come on, now.”

Molly settled back down and gave the wizard a half-smile of surprised thanks.

“We figured that if it’s undead,” continued Beau, “we might either be dealing with some kind of curse that makes them come alive every full moon, or there’s someone or something down there using the cycle to reanimate them. Or something. Like we said, it’s a lot of guessing.”

Fjord nodded. “That’s pretty good already,” he said, “that means we can try and stock up on holy water, at least.”

“Assuming we are correct,” said Caleb. 

“It’s better than going in blind,” shrugged Molly. “Nice work.”

Four pairs of eyes flickered towards Caleb to see his reaction to Molly’s compliment. The wizard, dense as ever, continued to stare at his notebook as he took a sip from his flagon and said, “thank you.” 

Across the table, Beau shrugged at Fjord. Fjord shrugged back and mouthed, _Fine, go for it then._

Jester shot up. “The B stands for Beer!” she said happily and ran off towards the bar.

Caleb looked up. “I’m sorry?” he asked with mild puzzlement. 

“Just Jester, being Jester!” Nott supplied helpfully and with slightly too much force. 

“Right…sure,” said Caleb. 

“Don’t worry,” said Beau reassuringly. “It’ll just be a few drinks. It’s been too long since we celebrated like this!”

\------------------

“Nott…Nott, how much have _you_ had?” Caleb slurred. “ _I_ feel like I have been drinking twice what I ordered.”

I have no idea,” she said, taking another swig. “After Pumat enchanted this flask for me, I stopped being able to tell. It just keeps going.”

Fjord gingerly pried her hands away from whatever ungodly cocktail of leftover spirits festered inside. “I think maybe you’ve had enough, now.”

She was too drunk to argue. 

Beau raised an eyebrow. “Caleb, how do you feel?” she asked.

“Fuzzy,” said Caleb, and poked himself on the side of the head. “Like…bla-blankets. And Frumpkin.”

Molly giggled. Jester peered into his eyes. “How are you feeling?” she asked.

“Eh…more or less fine. I’ve got a high tolerance for this sort of thing. Circus people are partiers.”

Fjord nodded. “That checks.”

Jester stood up. “I’m getting more alcohol!” she announced cheerfully. “The night is still young.”

\------------------

Caleb stumbled into the room without even knocking, which was a testament to how much Nott—completely plastered herself—had managed to slip into his flagon without him noticing.

“Mollymauk!” Caleb said cheerfully, and almost tripped through the doorframe. 

Molly, who was only extremely tipsy, smiled pleasantly in return. “Hello, Caleb?” he said. “What brings you here tonight?”

Caleb gently shut the door behind him, but because he was completely trashed, ended up throwing it back with a faint thud and almost spun in a circle from the inertia. “I _va_ …wa… _wanted_ to talk to you!” he said, and moved towards the bed.

Molly slid over and made room. “Oh? About what?”

Caleb flopped down next to the tiefling, and for the first time Molly noticed how dynamically Caleb could waltz and swing and lean around when he wasn’t being so reserved with his movements. He put his hands behind him on the bed, leaning backwards, arching his spine and looking towards the ceiling. 

“I app…appreciated what you said, _eute vor einigen Stunden_ ,” he said. Then he cocked his head towards Molly and said, with a small grin, “That’s earlier today for you, Mollymauk, who does not speak Zemnian.”

Molly gave him a faint smile. “You’ve got me there.”

“Yes, I do,” he grinned. “And I wanted to tell you…to tell you…that I am glad to know you care about me. I care about you too. And it is…hmm… _angenehm_ , pleasing, to know that you do. I was not sure, for some time.”

“Really?” Molly asked. “You weren’t sure?”

Caleb lifted a hand a waggled his pointed finger at Molly. “You are a hard one, Mollymauk! I did not understand your intentions for a very long time. You were…maybe you did not mean so…but you were rather rude to Nott and I at first, but that was fine, because we are all sketchy assholes. And you had so, so many things you did not tell us! So much mystery and uncert…uncert…unclear intentions. But then you told us, in truth, and opened yourself up to us, and that is very hard. And now, you tell me…you say that you care? Hearing that…it was _beruhigend_ …it reassured me.”

“I’m glad to hear that, Caleb.”

He grinned like a fool and pushed his arms out, causing him to fall into Molly’s bed. A small part of Molly was rather pleased—he had wanted this for quite some time, though not exactly in this context—and an even smaller part of Molly was very pleased. 

Caleb continued to stare at the ceiling. “Would you like to know a secret, Molly?” he asked.

Molly did not know how to answer. “Eh…you are quite drunk at the moment,” he said. “Perhaps it would be better for you not to.”

Caleb shook his head, which was just him smooshing his face against the sheets again and again. “ _Nein, nein_ , no, I have to say it now. When I am sober tomorrow I will be…I will be too afraid to.”

“If…if you would really like to.”

Caleb was silent for a moment. Then, “I remember _everything_ ,” he whispered.

Molly chuckled quietly. “I already knew that, Caleb,” he said.

Caleb ineffectively shook his head again. “Ah, you misunder _stand_ me, Molly. I can remember _everything_.”

“Er...is there something in particular you’d like to mention?” he asked carefully.

“Ja. I remember casting the spell," Caleb said mournfully."And I remember _das Feuer_ , and the way it felt leaving my hands. I remember it moving through the night air, and I remember thinking that it was much too slow and much too quick, all at the same time. And then…and then…”

Molly put a hand on Caleb’s arm. “You can stop, if you want—”

“And then it hit the cart, caught the dry hay we had stacked onto the wood,” Caleb said quietly. “And then it spread, clinging onto our home and burning terrible and bright. I remember thinking, ‘I am protecting the empire, I am keeping it safe.’ And then they started screaming.”

Molly could only stare helplessly as Caleb barreled on, voice breaking and chest beginning to shake with remorseful sobs. “They started screaming, Molly. And…and it was just like it always was before, I have heard screams before, but this time…this time it was so different this time because…because…because they were my parents. My mother and father. I loved them. I _loved_ them. And I broke.”

Caleb’s voice was barely a breath. Molly desperately searched the man’s face for any sign of emotion, but he seemed strangely blank. His eyes were closed.

“Caleb?” Molly asked.

“Yes?” came the whisper.

“I…I am sorry.”

Caleb shifted on the bed slowly, until he was curled up against Molly’s legs. “I remember everything,” he said.

“I cannot imagine how that must be.”

This elicited a surprised chuckle from Caleb. “That is true, that is the truth, that is very true,” he slurred. 

After a moment’s pause, Caleb spoke again. “It is okay, though. There are some good parts.”

“Oh?” asked Molly. He desperately wanted to pull Caleb into his lap and stroke the man’s hair.

“Yes. I can remember seeing Nott, for the first time, in that silly prison. I can remember that day in the tavern, when The Nein came together.”

“Yes, I remember that too,” grinned Molly.

“And I can remember meeting you,” said Caleb. “That is one of my favorite memories.”

Molly’s heart skipped a beat. He wanted to ask the man what that meant, but the storm of thoughts and the slow pull of alcohol collided in his mind, and he found himself unable to. The words died in his throat.

Caleb pulled at Molly’s sleeves. “Now you,” he said. “Now, now, now…now you do one.”

“Sorry?”

“Your turn,” said Caleb. “Your turn to tell me a secret.” 

Molly floundered for something to say. “I’m afraid I don’t have that many left,” he said. “I already told you lot my biggest secret.”

Caleb giggled, which was strange in its own right. “I bet that’s not true,” he said. “I bet you have a lot of secrets. If it helps, you can do it in Infernal. I said my secret in Zemnian, after all.”

Molly froze. That was not true. He wasn’t sure whether or not to tell Caleb this, but then the man pulled on Molly’s coat again, weak but impatient, and Molly had no choice but to oblige. 

“You really would like to hear a secret?” he asked.

“ _Ja, bitte._ Fair is fair.”

Molly took a deep breath, and looked down at the sleepy face of Caleb Widogast, eyes closed and drunk, expectant smile playing on his lips. Molly took a chance and brushed the ginger hair aside.

“ _I woke up in a hole in the earth,_ ” Molly said tentatively, “ _two years ago, with no memories of my past or of who I was. I was taken in by the circus. But you already know this. What you don’t know, is that before I decided I would be Mollymauk Tealeaf, I wondered for quite some time why I was given this second chance. I thought maybe it was so I could spread a bit of joy to the world. Maybe so I could help guide people along the path. Maybe so I could tell stories and inspire others and have high adventures. But now, I think, maybe it was so I could meet a man that would accept me for me, without any need of missing memories or past lives or answers I did not have. An incredibly intelligent, entertaining, powerful, brave man. And though he can be a bit selfish, and quite dense, he is one of the most loyal and caring people I know. I don’t know if you’ve met him, but his name is Caleb Widogast, and I love him with every inch of my being._ ”

Molly could feel the slow rise and fall of Caleb’s chest against the mattress. “ _I love you, Caleb Widogast_ ,” he said softly, “ _and I wish you could understand this. I wish you could love me too._ ”

He carefully slid off the bed, shrugged his coat off, draped it over Caleb, and crept out into the hallway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! If you liked it, please consider leaving Kudos/Comments! I'm so happy about the reception this silly piece has gotten, and I appreciate y'all so much <3
> 
> Consider checking me out [@sockablock](https://www.sockablock.tumblr.com) on tumblr!


	4. Secrets in the Water

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 4! Featuring hangovers, feats from The Cleric, a friend returned, and the weirdest pudding D&D has to offer
> 
> (In case anyone was interested, the title for this piece was partially inspired by a song from the album The Earth is Not a Cold Dead Place by Explosions in the Sky! Please please take a look at it, because the titles of the songs in it give me such Widomauk vibes it's scary and also it's just an amazing album and I love their music)

“Are you _sure_ you don’t want more advice?” Jester asked the next morning at breakfast.

She and Molly were the first ones awake today, with the rest recovering from various degrees of drunkenness. Jester (who only ever drank milk) and Molly (who had a frankly worrying tolerance) were the only ones left unscathed. 

“I think…I think maybe we _do_ just need to talk it out,” Molly said. “And just so you know, I’m on to you people about your plans. That random burst of excessive drinking was not very subtle.”

Jester raised an eyebrow. “Did it help, though?”

“…yes,” Molly admitted.

“I am very glad!” Jester said happily. “Though if you would like, I could definitely cast Zone of Truth or force you both into a small closet or something to make it go faster.”

Molly smiled. “As entertaining as that sounds, maybe it would be better to just sort of let things happen as they will. After all, as long as it wasn’t the however-many-drinks Nott slipped him last night that were doing the talking, I think there really might be something there.”

“Oooohhh,” Jester leaned in, “like what?”

Molly waved a hand. “Your help is invaluable, but I’d like to keep some things for myself,” he said.

Jested pouted. “Tease,” she said. “But see? I _told_ you he liked you.”

“We’ll see,” sighed Molly. “Anyways, we’re still waiting on our next mission, so what have you got planned for today?”

“Oh, it is the greatest idea!” beamed Jester. “The perfect thing after a recovering from a terrible, terrible hangover.”

\----------------------

Nott dropped her forehead against the table. “Ughhh,” she groaned, “do we _have_ to go?”

Beau rubbed her thumbs against her temples. “Actually,” she said, “I think it might help.”

Fjord nodded slowly, trying not to move his head too much. “A hot bath is usually a good way to recover from…well, from last night.” 

“Wonderful!” exclaimed Jester, and the party flinched. 

“Please…please keep it down,” Beau mumbled.

“Sorry,” Jester whispered back extremely loudly.

“I know the plan was to get Caleb super drunk,” muttered Fjord, “but why did _we_ end up drinking so much as well?”

“We’re idiots with no self-control,” said Beau. “And the ale here is hella cheap.” 

“I didn’t want Caleb to be lonely,” said Nott.

“Right,” sighed Fjord. “Where is Caleb, anyways?”

“Still sleeping,” said Nott. “And might I add it was rude of you to kick me out of my room last night, Mollymauk and Fjord.”

Molly held his hands up in a pacifying gesture, which was lost on Nott since her face was still flat against the table. “Caleb is the one who fell asleep in my room,” he said. “I figured you’d want to move as well.”

She grumbled her reluctant agreement. 

“You should’ve stayed in the bed with him,” said Beau. “It’s what I would have done if that were Yasha.”

“If that were Yasha, I don’t think she would have gotten that drunk,” said Fjord. “She seems too cool for that.”

“Completely true,” said Molly. 

“Why didn’t you try and carry him back?” asked Jester. “That could have been romantic.”

“Then I could’ve slept in my own room,” muttered Nott. 

Molly sighed. “I’m tough,” he said, “not strong. I gave him my coat as a blanket, though.”

Jester squealed loudly, which caused another round of groans from the hungover party members.

“Thank you, dear.”

“Better hope he doesn’t throw up on it,” Beau smirked.

“That would be really hard to clean up,” added Fjord.

Molly stood up. “Excuse me, everybody,” he said, “I have to go check on my coat,” and then he ran towards the stairs. He stopped at the bar, and there was a brief exchange before Clay handed him another tankard. Then he darted off.

“Do you think he’s gonna try and clean the coat with that?” Fjord asked.

“I don’t think it’s the coat he’s worried about,” said Nott.

\----------------------

Molly hesitated in front of the closed door. He took a moment to admire the fascinating shapes formed by the wood grain and gazed appreciatively at the particularly shiny finish covering the copper doorknob. Then he shook his head, told himself to stop being a nervous idiot, and gingerly made his way in.

The door creaked, and there was a soft groan. With the low light peeking in from the lantern in the hallway, and the faint sunlight filtering through the thick curtains over the window, Molly could see Caleb’s form curled up on his bed. He was in almost exactly the same position as the night before, face mostly buried into the mattress, except now Molly’s coat was half-covering him, half scrunched-up in Caleb’s arms. 

There was no vomit on it, which was a good sign.

“Caleb?” Molly whispered. “How are you feeling?”

Caleb’s free eye peeked open briefly. “Ugh,” he said.

“That bad, eh?” Molly closed the door and walked over, kneeling down next to Caleb’s head. “I brought you some water, if you’d like,” he said.

Caleb slowly shifted onto his side and pulled Molly’s coat away from his face. “ _Danke_ ,” he said quietly. 

After he finished taking a long swig from the flagon, he peered up at the person who had brought it to him. “Oh, Mollymauk,” he said with mild surprise. “I thought you were Nott. Why are you so short?”

Molly gave him a faint smile. “I’m kneeling down, Caleb.”

“Ah. That makes sense. Er…what time is it?”

Molly blinked. “Don’t you always know exactly what the time is?” he asked.

“Not when I’m this hungover, I don’t,” he said. Then he thought for a moment. “Noon?”

“Close,” grinned Molly. “About half past one.”

Caleb nodded. “ _Verstanden_ , that seems about right. Are the others awake?”

“Yep. You’re the last one. We were actually coming to get you to go to the baths soon.”

“The baths?”

“I know you don’t like them, but it might be nice after how much we had last night.”

“How much did I drink last night?” Caleb asked. “I could have sworn I only asked for a refill once.”

“I’m going to be completely honest with you, Caleb.”

“…okay?”

“I have literally no idea. Nott was topping off your flagon the entire night without you noticing.”

Caleb swore. “That little menace,” he sighed.

“We figured you could unwind a bit.”

Caleb opened his eyes again, and gave Molly a weak smile. “She really is quite good at the whole ‘rogue’ thing, isn’t she?”

“Remind me never to get on her bad side. Or, at least, to stay on her neutral side.”

“Mollymauk, how much…how much _did_ I unwind, exactly?”

Molly faltered. “Er…”

“Because I seem to be in your bedroom, cuddling with your coat.” 

“You came in last night to chat,” said Molly.

“ _Was_? What did I say?”

“You…er…you told me that you were glad for our talk yesterday, and you didn’t think I was as suspicious as before.”

“Is that all I said?”

“Um…”

“Please, tell me.”

“The details are pretty hazy. Remember, I was drunk as well.” 

“Yes, fine.”

“You told me you wanted to tell me a secret. That you could remember everything you had ever experienced before. And…and then you told me about a memory. But…”

“But?”

Molly took a deep breath. “…but you said it in Zemnian. So I don’t know what it was.”

Caleb was silent for a moment. 

“Oh,” he said eventually. “I see.”

“You asked me for a secret in return, too.”

“Did I get one?”

Molly gave him a half-grin. “Sort of,” he said. “My secret was in Infernal.” 

Caleb nodded slowly. “Then I see we have nothing to worry about,” he said. “Maybe we should go downstairs, now.”

Molly chuckled. “I’ve already been downstairs. It’s your turn, friend.”

He slowly helped Caleb get to his feet. “Hey,” he said carefully, “maybe we could talk a bit more sometime? It was nice, last night. We don’t have to be that drunk next time, though.”

For a moment, Caleb didn’t respond. Then, “You know…that might be a good idea. And perhaps eventually we will uncover each other’s secrets, eh?”

Molly wasn’t sure if that was a joke, but he rolled with it. “My door is always open for you, Caleb Widogast. We can just kick Fjord out into Jester and Beau’s room or something.”

Caleb chuckled softly. “I would like to see what would happen if we did, Mollymauk Tealeaf.”

\----------------------

“So we are all good with this plan?” Jester asked.

“I don’t see why it’s necessary,” Fjord said. “They seem to be just fine.”

“Does that mean I don’t actually have to take a bath, then?” Nott asked.

Jester shook her head. “No, no, we are still going _with_ ,” she said. “I still want to _bathe_.”

“Fine,” Nott grumbled.

“But there’s no point in doing that,” Fjord tried again. “The alcohol was a kick-start, and now they can just bounce off of that.”

“Who’s to say they even remember what happened while they were drunk?” Jester said. “This is an in-case plan.”

“Caleb has a very good memory,” Nott added. “Even if he doesn’t remember it right away, he always will eventually.”

“I’ve got nothing better to do anyways,” said Beau. “I want to get this all taken care of before Yasha gets back.”

“Maybe we will see her at the baths again?” Jester suggested. 

Beau, still heavily hungover, brightened. “Shit, yeah, maybe. How do I look?”

“Does it matter?” Nott asked. “You’re going to be naked and inside super-hot water there anyways.” 

“I’d rather be inside super-hot—”

Fjord cleared his throat very loudly. Before Beau could send him a glare for cutting her off, Molly appeared at the foot of the stairs, waving cheerfully, with an extremely tired and headache-heavy Caleb behind him. 

“Ready to go?” he asked as he approached the others. 

“Wow, Caleb,” Jester said, leaning under his chin and looking up at him, “you look super terrible.”

“Thank you, Jester,” he sighed. Then he turned towards Nott. “I heard perhaps you were helping me get a bit more drunk than I intended, last night?”

Nott shrugged. “It was Jester’s idea.”

“That is true,” said Jester. “You are too uptight.”

Caleb rubbed the bridge of his nose. “ _Ja_ , except now I am not even sure I can walk there.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that!” Jester said cheerfully. “I can take care of it!”

And before Caleb could even react, she slapped her hands on either side of his face, muttered a few words, and there was a brief glow of faint blue light. When it subsided, and Jester pulled away looking pleased with her work, Caleb blinked.

“It’s gone?” he felt the sides of his head. “Well, that was unexpected.”

“I can cure hangovers,” Jester said, “I am _the_ Cleric, after all.”

Three pairs of eyes instantly locked onto her. “And when were you planning on telling us that?” Beau asked. 

“I don’t know,” Jester said. “Now, I guess.”

Nott waved her hand. “Can you do me next?” she asked. 

Jester leaned over and happily administered another Lesser Restoration. “Do you want one too, Beau?” she asked.

After the monk had been cured, Jester turned to Fjord and smiled apologetically. “Sorry, Oskar,” she said. “That was my last one of today.” 

Fjord sighed. “You know what? It’s fine, hopefully the bath will make me feel better.”

“Are you already out of spells?” Molly asked. 

“No,” Jester said defensively, “I’m just out of that particular kind of spell. I’ve still got magic.” 

“Alright, alright, I was just asking,” Molly said calmly. 

“Want me to cast Thaumaturgy and open all the windows and doors?”

“ _No_ ,” said five people, all at the same time.

“Let’s just head over to the baths now, alright?” said Fjord. “I could really use one, right now.”

“Does water make you more powerful?” Nott asked. “Or is that just salt water that does it?”

Fjord stood up. “See you all there,” he said evenly, and started walking towards the door.

“It’s actually not the water at all,” said Molly conspiratorially. “It’s the salt. If you pour salt on him, he gets super powerful for a few minutes.”

“I will absolutely try that later,” said Nott, and the party headed out. 

\----------------------

Caleb sat awkwardly in the steaming water. He had shed his various layers of ratty clothing and allowed them to be cleaned—except for his overcoat, which sat in the adjoining room with his books. Frumpkin was dozing peacefully on a pile of warm towels in the corner, purring gently. Caleb wished he could walk over and join his cat, or fall asleep himself to avoid speaking, because directly across from him sat Molly, completely naked and extremely close. Thankfully, they were both covered from the chest up by the heated bath and thick clouds of steam, but the pool they were sitting in was small enough that every once in a while, Caleb’s foot would accidentally brush against Molly’s leg. 

There was nobody else in their room. Caleb wished the water was colder.

“Explain to me, please,” he said to the tiefling, “how we ended up here by ourselves?”

Molly had a towel draped over his eyes. He peeled a corner back and one ruby-colored pupil trained on him. “I have absolutely no idea,” he said. “Maybe the others are still on their way?”

“I hope so.” Then he blushed and added, “Not that I don’t enjoy your company. It’s just…I was looking forward to spending more time with everybody else. And I wanted to make sure Nott is alright in the water.”

Molly nodded. “I get it,” he said. “I was going to try and push Beau under when she wasn’t paying attention.”

There was more silence. Molly let the towel down and closed his eyes again. The steam drifted lazily around them. Behind the stone wall to their right, they could hear faint voices. One of them was female, and swearing loudly.

“I think that is our aforementioned monk friend,” Caleb said. “Did the others get the room wrong?”

A couple scenarios flashed in Molly’s mind. He sighed when he realized what was going on.

“Maybe,” said Molly, “thought that might not exactly be the case.” 

“What is your meaning?”

“Nothing, nothing. Don’t worry.”

“Should we go join them, then?”

Molly scrambled for something to say. Eventually, he settled on, “No, no, let’s not let the good gold we paid for a separate room to go to waste. Maybe we could just enjoy each other’s company. Why don’t we just talk to each other for a bit?”

“ _Was_? Oh…uh…what would you like to speak of?”

“I don’t know,” said Molly. “Tell me something about yourself. I’ll tell you something too, a story for a story. Fair’s fair, right?”

Caleb looked at Molly. Without the tiefling’s piercing red eyes staring back at him, he felt himself relaxing slightly. The social anxiety, though still present, was not in full force. 

“Okay,” he said. “What kind of story would you like?”

“Where are you from? I know the Zemni fields and all that, but _where_? And what was it like?”

Caleb idly traced a hand along the surface of the water. “I was born in a very small farming village,” he said slowly. “So small that a map just of little villages would not have included ours. My parents worked in the fields all day, and I helped them as well. We were dirt poor.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that,” Molly said firmly. “I’d never had more than a handful of copper on me before the Nein.”

Caleb nodded, then remembered that Molly could not see him. “Indeed,” he said. “As a child, I never thought anything of it either. I had a mother and father who loved me very much. I had siblings, twins, that were always fun to have around. And I was happy.”

“…what changed?” 

“I learned magic,” Caleb said. His voice was quiet now, pleased and bitter all at once. “The details are not important, but I learned magic. And I was good, for a peasant child that had stumbled into it accidentally.”

“I see,” said Molly. 

“And then I caught wind of an academy, for students of the arcane. I wanted to go. The village wanted me to go too, they were so proud that one of their own had the aptitude for learning. But it costs more money than any of us could ever had made, to attend a school as prestigious as Soltryce. And also you need papers, previous educations, connections to higher officials, letters of recommendation, all things nobody could provide.”

“So you couldn’t go?”

Caleb was silent for a moment. “Well, there _was_ a way, but it—”

A piercing scream erupted from behind the wall, but ended just as suddenly. Frumpkin leapt from the pile of towels and hissed, hackles raised. There was yelling now too, the sound of feet slapping against stone, and just barely audible over the faint hiss of steam and movement of water, was a strange, creeping, bubbling sound. 

Molly vaulted out of the water and ran towards the room where they had left most of their things. Caleb scrambled out of the pool after him, grabbing a towel and his cat on the way.

\----------------------

“Why do we always meet you in bath houses?” Jester asked.

“Is _this_ where you go when you disappear?” asked Nott, who was wrapped in a towel and sitting on the edge of the bath. Her feet skittered along the water’s surface. She was disguised as a halfling, at the moment. “Do you just bathe all the time?”

“Not all the time,” said Yasha. “This is only my second trip here.”

“Really?” Fjord asked from the corner. He had squeezed himself into the water so that only his mouth and up were visible. The steam seemed to be helping his hangover. “Weird coincidence, then.” 

“Yes,” said Yasha. “Now could somebody explain where they are, again?”

“We ditched Caleb and Molly at the entrance and paid for the staff to take them to a separate location,” said Beau.

“Because?”

“We’re trying to set up your boy with Nott’s boy,” Jester said cheerfully.

“And they’re hoping if we keep making them spend time with another, they will finally confess their feelings,” Beau added.

Yasha considered this. The greatsword strapped to her back clinked softly as she leaned against the side of the pool. Other patrons occasionally looked towards her with expressions of fear and awe.

“I know Mollymauk has a fondness for the wizard," said Yasha, “but does Caleb return his feelings?”

“Undetermined,” Fjord said.

“Absolutely,” Jester said at the exact same time.

“We’re pretty sure,” Nott supplied. “We got ‘em super drunk last night and they apparently they had—”

“Sex?” Yasha asked, and Jester began giggling furiously.

“Oh, gods no,” said Nott. “No, they had a conversation.” 

“Oh,” said Yasha. “For them, a conversation is probably better than sex.” Jester giggled harder.

“And right now they’re sitting together, alone, in boiling water,” said Beau.

“Completely naked,” said Jester.

Yasha nodded. “A good place for more conversations.”

“Do you think they’re making out yet?” Jester asked. 

“Probably not,” said Nott. 

Fjord looked down at the bath, then frowned. “Is the water getting lower?” he asked. 

Beau ignored him. “Do you think it’s _worse_ for them not to be wearing any clothes while they’re alone? I mean, Caleb is really fucking awkward, that might make it harder for him to speak.”

“Caleb does get weird when I get naked,” Nott said. “Actually, most humans do. It’s not really a problem for goblins.” Her eyes darted around the room. “I-I mean, it’s not a problem for _halflings_.”

This earned a few strange looks from the other people in the pool.

“Molly will be fine with wearing no clothes,” Yasha said. “I am unsure about Caleb.” 

Fjord sank down farther into the water.

“How are you feeling, Oskar?” Jester asked. “I am sorry I didn’t have any more Lesser Restorations for you.”

“I think I’m alright,” Fjord said. “But I was sure the water was higher before. Hang on,” he said, and he fully submerged himself into the bath.

The Nein looked at the spot where he had been sitting. A couple bubbles floated up. 

“He’s very in tune with bodies of water,” Jester commented.

“He’s trying to get closer to his god,” Nott said solemnly. “But it won’t work, since there’s no salt.”

“I don’t think it’s a god,” Beau said, “I thought it was more some kind of sword spirit or—”

Fjord shot out of the bath and scrambled onto the tiles around them. “Get out!” he yelled, “Everybody, get out of the water! There’s something down there, get the hell out!” He flicked his wrist, and the falchion appeared, dripping, jagged, glowing faintly.

People looked around in confusion. Then, all of a sudden, an older-looking woman started screaming and thrashing in the water. Surprised, the people around her clambered away. And then just as quickly as it began, the scream was abruptly cut off as out of nowhere, her entire body plunged beneath the surface and did not rise. Now everybody was shouting and yelling and panicking, trying desperately to climb out of the water as a strange, dark and hazy shape came into focus at the bottom of the pool. People were pushing past Nott to get to the exit, their bare feet slapping against the tile. The steam and throng of bodies made it almost impossible to see, and the little goblin had to duck around their retreating forms. 

Jester and Beau raced out and joined Fjord on his side, as next to Nott, Yasha burst forth and drew her greatsword in one fluid motion. 

“What is it?” Jester shouted over the fleeing stampede. “What is it?”

“The water level is going down!” Beau called, “We’ll see in a second!”

“Is everybody armed?” Fjord yelled. “It dragged down a woman, we’re probably going to have to fight it!”

Nott, unsurprisingly, produced a folding crossbow from within her towel. “Yes!” she yelled. 

“I only have shitty spells left,” Jester said. “This is not going to be good.”

As the last of the patrons fled the scene, the hot, humid room grew quiet. Wisps of steam hung in the air and they watched, with horror, as the water sank lower and lower into the pool until it revealed the enormous, hulking black mass of an oozing, tar-like entity, its form bubbling and dripping as one half dragged itself out of the now-unblocked drain, and the other half finished swallowing the still-twitching hand of a human woman caught unawares. 

“Fuck,” said Fjord.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaaand, roll initiative! Thanks so much for reading, guys! Your support has been really amazing and I've been writing non-stop since I started cause I appreciate y'all so much. Sorry about the cliffhanger and I would usually also ask to leave comments and Kudos if you liked this, but I really am sorry about the cliffhanger! Next chapter will be up extremely soon with some real juicy bits, so stay tuned! (Is there an update yet?)


	5. Pudding and Revelations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 5! Featuring the end of a pudding; boring days; words from Nott; and fortunes told. Things are picking up now y'all and I think this might be the halfway point for us!

“I do not like being this close to so many naked strangers!” Caleb yelled over the noise.

“At least you’ve got a coat on!” Molly called back. “All of my clothes are being cleaned, I don’t even have pants!”

“I grabbed you a towel! When it’s less crowded, you can put it on!”

They pushed their way through the hallway, Frumpkin yowling and deftly weaving around the stampede of fleeing patrons. Finally, they burst into the main area, a chamber with three smaller pools surrounding a large, central basin set into the ground. Towels were scattered across the floor and there were trails of water everywhere, left by panicking individuals scrambling to escape. Amid the steam, the rest of the Mighty Nein stood around the largest pool, now empty, with Jester, Beau, and Fjord on one side, and Yasha and Nott on the other. 

“What the shit is that!?” Jester shouted as they approached.

They ran up to the tiled edge, Caleb taking a moment to catch his breath. They carefully peered in.

“What the fuck,” said Molly. 

“I have no idea,” said Caleb. “It’s just sitting there at the bottom, did it attack anybody?”

“It ate an entire woman,” said Nott. 

Molly nodded. “That would definitely count,” he sighed. “Should we…should we go down and fight it?”

They considered the pulsing mass of black ooze. 

“What if Caleb just casts magic at it until it dies, from up here?” Yasha suggested. “None of us have armor. None of us even have _clothing_.”

“I’ve got a towel,” said Nott. “Caleb has his coat on.”

“Would you want to button that up?” Beau asked pointedly. 

“Shouldn’t we be more concerned about the strange bubbling creature at the bottom of the bath?” Caleb asked reproachfully, but started doing up the buttons.

“No need for that,” said Molly cheekily, then remembered his promise to stop teasing the wizard. He sighed. “Do you have that towel for me?” 

As he fastened the towel around his waist, the others picked up scattered towels for themselves (minus Yasha, who could care less, and Nott, who already had one on). None of them took their eyes away from the creature in the pool.

“We _should_ probably kill it,” said Beau. “It did eat a person, as Nott said.”

“Alright,” said Caleb. “Stand back.” 

A torrent of fire burst from Caleb’s hands and into the creature. It started writhing, and while it could make no sound except for the ever-present burbling, it seemed to be in pain. He unleased another round of flames.

They watched it burn for a few moments. 

“I feel sort of bad,” Jester said, taking a step forward, “I mean, it seems kind of defense—”

Her foot caught in one of the puddles of water, and she slipped into the basin.

Many things happened at once. 

The ooze darted forwards, easily closing the 20-foot gap between it and Jester, and launched a horrifying black pseudopod towards her. As it impacted, she stumbled back and winced at the acid burning into her arm. Beau, Yasha, and Molly instantly leapt down into the pool, Molly cutting himself on the blade and letting radiant light spill from it. Yasha took a massive swing with her greatsword, slashing through but seemingly doing nothing as the creature’s body re-formed. Beau punched it, and though it recoiled from the hits, she also swore and shook her fingers as acid burns began appearing on her hands. Nott took two shots with her crossbow, Fjord let loose an Eldritch Blast, and Caleb sent a Scorching Ray into the mix. 

After a few rounds of combat, the ooze managed to catch Jester by the leg and started to pull her in. But this time, she was ready. Before it could fully encompass and begin to dissolve her, she whirled around, pointed a finger at the creature, and screamed, “ _Eat shit, you stupid pudding monster_!”

A bolt of blue, radiant light shot through the ceiling of the bathhouse and collided with the creature. As Jester scrambled away and glared, it reeled from the divine blast. After a second filled with piercing light, its form collapsed into a pile of wet, sticky tar. The floor around it started sizzling slightly from its acidic goop. 

Fjord and Caleb helped the others out of the pool. Everybody was in various states of unruffled, and also significantly underdressed. 

“You guys are never boring,” remarked Yasha as they sat around the edge and considered their wounds. Jester was busily wrapping her arm and Beau’s knuckles with towel scraps. 

“Does anyone have any guess as to what it was?” Fjord asked. 

Caleb thought for a moment. “I am not sure exactly,” he said, “but it seemed like some sort of ooze.”

“Yeah,” said Jester, “ _duh_.”

“Ohhhh,” Beau said. “Not ooze like ooze, ooze like _ooze_.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” said Nott. 

“Oozes are a species of creature,” Caleb explained. “The most famous is the gelatinous cube, like the one we fought the other day in that laboratory, but this was more like some sort of black sludge. They live underground in wet tunnels and dungeons and such, mostly.”

"They're like...mindless, subterranean, acid-filled killing machines," supplied Beau.

“So what was it doing in a bathhouse in one of the busiest cities of the empire?” Molly asked.

“Probably it lived in the sewers,” said Yasha. “Maybe it climbed through that way. If anywhere is going to lead to sewers, it would be a bathhouse.”

“But why would it want to come here?” Nott asked. 

“Maybe it was lonely!” said Jester.

“Maybe it was hungry,” suggested Molly.

Beau rubbed her newly-bandaged knuckles. “We’re getting close to the full moon,” she said slowly. “Maybe it was running from...from whatever the Gentleman wants us to take care of.”

The group looked at the uncovered drain sitting innocuously in the middle of a pile of fading goop.

“We’re gonna need to get some more health potions,” said Fjord.

\----------------------

“I’m bored,” said Beau. Her feet were propped up on the table. Clay looked like he wanted to ask her to put them down, but was too afraid.

“Want to take some more skein?” Molly suggested.

“That was the worst trip I’d ever had,” said Beau. “Maybe we should just get drunk.”

“Didn’t you do that while I was gone?” Yasha asked.

“Yes,” Molly agreed, “but that was like…two days ago.”

“No,” said Yasha. “It’s three in the afternoon. Do it later.”

“Dammit,” said Beau. “I hate it when they’re logical.”

\----------------------

“Why are these things aboveground?!” Fjord shouted as he unleased an Eldritch Blast on the giant, snarling, bile-filled rat.

“I don’t know!” the Crownsguard yelled back. “I don’t know, I was just on patrol and it leapt out at me!”

“Watch out!” Jester said cheerfully as a massive, spectral lollipop barreled into another rat. 

“Does this happen often?” Caleb called towards another guard. 

“No! This has never happened before!”

\----------------------

“Aw, man,” Fjord said as they walked back from the King’s Hall, “it’s only 300 gold.”

“They _were_ just rats,” Yasha said. “We’ve killed many of them before.”

“I want my money,” Nott said.

“Weird that they were just out on the street though,” Beau said.

\----------------------

“I am super-duper bored, Molly,” said Jester. “How long is it until we can go kill stuff?”

“Apparently all we have to do is walk around town, and something will jump out of the plumbing at us.”

“No, no, I mean how long until we go into the sewer after whatever the final big bad is?”

“Four more days,” Molly said. 

“Can I try and get you and Caleb to kiss in that time?” she asked.

“No,” he said. “Just in case another slime monster tries to kill you all while we aren’t around.”

“Have you two talked at all since the baths?” she asked.

Molly shrugged. “Not really,” he said. “We haven’t had a reason to.”

“Uh, duh, your reason is that you are super-duper in love.”

Molly chuckled. “We still don’t know that, Jester,” he said. 

“Which is why I should lock you both in a closet until you confess to one another.”

“No, thank you. Try something else.”

“Like what? I have _nothing_ to do!”

“Draw Beau’s head on Frumpkin’s body,” Molly supplied.

“Oooh! That is a very good idea,” Jester grinned. “And then next Nott as a little mouse, and then you on a peacock.”

“I—” he sighed. “Go for it.”

\----------------------

“Thank you for coming with me to Pumat’s again,” said Caleb as he and Nott made their way back to the inn.

“No problem,” said Nott. “I like seeing Pumat. And besides, we haven’t hung out just ourselves in a while with everyone always trying to get—”

She shut her mouth. Caleb gave her a concerned glance. 

“With everyone always trying to get what, _spatz_?”

“With…with everyone always trying to get…to get…”

“Yes?”

“With everyone always trying to get our money! They’re so greedy, always taking my stuff, I have to protect it all the time and I can’t focus on other things.”

“Nott, that is you who is the one trying to collect things always.”

She sagged. “Alright, alright, everyone is actually trying to get you and Molly to spend time together alone.”

She could almost hear the social-situation gears turning in Caleb’s head. She imagined there was quite a bit of dust and spiderwebs coating them. 

“They are trying to get me and Molly…to spent time together alone?”

“Yep.”

“… _why_?” Caleb asked.

Nott sighed. “I’m going to tell you and you’re not going to believe me.”

“Sure, okay. But still tell me, please.”

She took a deep breath. “ _They-think-you-have-a-crush-on-Molly-and-they-want-you-to-admit-it-to-him_ ,” she said in a single exhale. 

Caleb gave Nott a strange look. Then he chuckled. “That’s silly, _spatz_. Besides, what do they think would happen afterwards? Molly would just joke it off, and then nothing would come of it. He could not be interested in me, of course.”

Nott frowned. “What? Why do you say that?”

Caleb shuffled the parchment in his arms. “Because I am just a poor man in a dirty coat,” he said, confused. “What is there to be interested in?”

There was a moment of silence. Then Nott flicked him in the knee, an impressive feat given that they were walking.

“Ow! What was that for?”

“There’s plenty!” she said sternly. 

“Excuse me?”

“There’s plenty to be interested in! You’re very smart and you can cast the most complicated spells I’ve ever seen, and you can learn magic just by copying it down into a book and you remember everything perfectly without even having to look at it again!”

“ _Ja_ , but that stuff is just academic—”

“You’re also a good person!” 

He laughed again. “I really am not—”

“You’re always nice to Beau, even though she’s always so grumpy, and you impress Fjord with your magic all the time. Jester thinks you’re incredible and I know you always try to help her and defend her no matter what. You were completely accepting of Molly’s weird bullshit, and you’ve always been patient with me even though I steal stuff all the time and drink a lot and don’t always do the right thing.”

“ _Ja_ , but that is just how you are supposed to behave—”

“ _Exactly_.”

They arrived at the Song and Supper. Caleb stared at the parchment in his arms, and then looked down at the little goblin. She was staring at him with a very intense expression.

“Do you believe me?” she asked.

“I…”

“Do you _trust_ me?”

“ _Ja_ , of course.”

“Then you’re a good person.” She gave him a pat on the waist, which was as high up as she could reach. “And there’s plenty to be interested in. That’s the truth of it.”

And she walked through the doors, leaving Caleb and his thoughts alone for a moment outside the tavern.

\----------------------

Fjord and Yasha traded blows on a patch of clear dirt in the back courtyard of the Song and Supper as the rest of the Mighty Nein sat at a table in the shade and watched. Every once in a while, Jester would try to confuse the two fighters with a distracting variation of Thaumaturgy, or Nott would launch a pebble their way to see if they would break concentration. Molly assumed that this was their way of helping them train.

“Beau,” Caleb said calmly, “your mouth is hanging open again.”

Jester snickered as Beau shot him a glare but did not argue. 

Nott threw another small stone and turned towards the others. “I’m really bored,” she said. “I almost miss running for my life and trying to kill stuff before it kills us. At least we got paid for that.”

Jester brightened up immediately. “Oh my gosh! Let’s have a ladies’ day!”

Beau raised an eyebrow. “A ladies’ day?” 

“Yes! Where we go out and get our fingernails painted and we buy fancy dresses and we eat little chocolates and we people fix our hair for us!”

Beau and Nott exchanged glances. “We’re not ladies,” they said simultaneously.

Jester pouted. “Come on, you guys, it will be so fun!”

“Jester, I’m a monster, and Beau is…Beau.”

“Ah, but you can cast Disguise Self! And Beau can pretend not to be herself! It will be so nice to get massages and get cleaned up and look pretty! Our bath went to shit so we still need to do that as well!”

“Jester, we’re not the sort that does this kind of thing,” said Beau.

“Please? Pretty please?”

“Jester…”

She sagged. “Okay…” she said, defeated. “It’s just…it’s just…I’ve just always wanted to have one. I’ve heard about them so much, and my mother did it all the time, but she never let me go with her even though I really really wanted to.”

Beau and Nott exchanged glances again. They sighed.

“Alright, Jester,” said Beau. “What do we have to do?”

She leaped out of her chair and grabbed Beau and Nott by the wrists. “Spa!” she shouted excitedly.

Molly gave Beau a pleasant wave as they were dragged out of the courtyard. 

“Be careful!” Caleb called to their retreating forms. 

Then the two of them were alone, more or less, with Yasha and Fjord immersed in combat behind them. 

Caleb was suddenly acutely aware of the comments Nott had made earlier. His eyes quickly flickered up from his book towards Mollymauk, who was staring at his cards, and back down again, unnoticed. He swallowed. 

“I was wondering—”

“It occurs to me—”

They both looked at each other in surprise. Molly shot him a smooth grin. “I always go first. It’s your turn.”

Caleb took a deep breath. “I was wondering…I was wondering if you might read my fortune.”

Molly’s eyes widened slightly. He leaned in closer. “Are you feeling alright?” he asked.

Caleb sighed. “ _Ja_ , I am feeling fine. I was just curious. If you do not want to…”

Molly waved a hand. “No, no,” he said, “I would love to. I just didn’t think you believed in that sort of thing.”

Caleb shrugged. “I don’t,” he said. “But I believe in you. That is good enough, _ja_?”

Molly stared some more, and now Caleb was terrified he had overstepped some sort of boundary. But before he could apologize, Molly swept his cards up in a grand gesture, winked, and started to shuffle. After couple passes, he placed the cards on the table.

Caleb watched them move with a keen eye. Just as Molly was about to uncover the first card, in a rare burst of courage, he placed his hands over Molly’s and met his surprised gaze.

“No,” he said softly. “Please, not on me.”

Molly gave him a long look. Then he sighed, and gave a small grin. “Your wish is my command,” he said, and Caleb gave a quiet laugh at the overplayed line. 

The cards flew through the air again as they were reshuffled, Molly holding his gaze with Caleb’s the whole time. Social awkwardness kicked in once more, and Caleb’s blush returned in full strength. But he forced himself to keep watching as the cards were placed back on the table. 

“How complicated would you like it?” Molly asked.

Caleb blinked. “Complicated?” 

“I know quite a few arrangements, friend. Some are just the simple past, present, and future, but others can be nine cards or more.”

Caleb considered this. “Do the one you did on yourself the other day, when we were sitting in the tavern.”

Molly looked taken aback. “You saw that?”

Caleb smiled weakly. “I am not always as absorbed in my work as you all tend to think. I did not survive so long in the wilderness by not being able to multitask.”

Molly raised an eyebrow. “I’m going to want that story later on,” he said. “But for now, past, present, and future it is.” 

He flipped over the first card. 

“ _Scheisse_ ,” said Caleb, “your cards must not like me very much.”

Molly chuckled. “Don’t worry, they’re just cards. And it’s a common misconception that the Death card is scary or bad. It actually just represents…something that’s come to an end,” he explained. “A phase of life that has run its course, or an aspect of your past that you are no longer held to. It can be quite good, actually, since it means that there’s a new beginning to follow.”

Caleb looked impressed. “All from one card?”

“If you believe it.”

“What is the next one?”

Molly turned it over. “The Page of Cups,” he said, and tried to fight the speed at which his mind was now jumping to conclusions. “This card…this card signals the start of something new.”

“Is that not what Death was?”

“Well…sort of. Because it was your past card, it means you have already embarked on your next journey, already started the next phase of your life. This is…this is the present, the now. And it’s a bit more specific. The Page of Cups represents new…emotions. The fragile beginnings of…of feelings that were not there before.”

Both were silent for a moment. Neither met the other’s eye, instead choosing to stare at the cards. 

“What…what is my next card?” Caleb asked eventually. 

Molly flipped it over. 

“Is this another good one disguised as a bad one?” Caleb asked. 

“Er…” said Molly, “sort of? It usually represents inaction, or passivity. There is something coming, in the future, and it advises you to not be an active aggressor, in order to reap the best reward.”

Something about Molly’s tone felt wrong.

“Is that all?” Caleb asked.

“…yes.”

“Are you sure?” he asked again.

“…no,” Molly sighed. “It’s a bit of a confusing one, to be honest. There’s another aspect to it, but most tellers won’t really read into that part. It can also mean…sacrifice or martyrdom. The best reward, to get it, requires an offering of something else in return. It could mean…it could mean waiting for new possibilities to arise, but those possibilities might come…they might come at a cost.”

Caleb’s eyes flickered between Molly’s face and the cards. “Are you alright, Mollymauk?” he asked. 

Molly blinked. “Of course I am,” he said. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

Caleb tried for a reassuring smile. It sort of worked. “They’re just cards, as you said. Fate is whatever you make of it, is it not?”

Molly returned the smile. It was weaker than it might normally be. “Of course,” he said. “And besides, you didn’t even let me work _my_ magic. So really, who’s to say if there’s anything behind this reading all?”

Caleb’s smile widened a bit, which was like a full grin on anybody else. “What would you have shown me, had I not stopped you?”

Molly leaned back. “Oh, probably something about good fortune,” he said cheerfully. “Something about sticking with others, looking out for your friends, and believing in yourself.”

Caleb chuckled. “Not too bad,” he said. “That would have been a nice thing to believe in. But I rather like hearing the truth. At least from you, Molly.”

“Nothing but the truth for you, my dear,” he returned, staring at the card. 

“Thank you,” Caleb said. “And oh, uh…what were you going to ask me before?”

Molly looked up. “Hmm?”

“Earlier, before I asked for the reading.” 

Molly took a second to remember. “Ah, yes,” he said. “I was going to say that I believe I owed you a story from when we were in the baths. We were interrupted.”

“By a giant bubbling pool of ooze that ate a person and then tried to eat Jester, yes.”

“Right. So…I should probably tell you something. The thing is, I don’t really have anything.”

“What about what you told me the other night, when we were drunk?”

Molly blanched. He hoped that, with the jewelry and tattoos and purple skin, Caleb would not notice. “That’s…that’s sort of…”

“A big secret?” Caleb asked.

“Er…yes. Perhaps a bit too big. I could…I could say it again in Infernal, but that wouldn’t really make us even, would it?”

Caleb thought for a moment. “What if…what if you did your own fortune, and told me what it said? I admit, I was curious last time.”

Molly recovered phenomenally. “Sure,” he said. And before Caleb could speak he winked and said, “No funny business either, I promise.” 

The wizard sat back and gave an amused “go on” gesture. 

Molly let the cards slip through his fingers, then placed them on the table.

“The first card, as you know, is the Past.” He flipped it over.

Caleb smiled fondly. “This card reminds me of Nott, for some reason,” he said. 

“It definitely has a rogue-ish quality to it,” Molly said. His voice was somewhat strained.

“What does it mean?”

“It…er…this is the Seven of Swords. It represents avoiding confrontation head-on, and emphasizes…taking the less direct approach. Tactfulness, if you will.”

“Does that seem accurate for your past?”

“I…I suppose? After all, I _was_ a completely blank slate for some time, so I had to be artful when it came to discussing certain things. Most are not so understanding when they find out you only have two years’ worth of memories. They always try and tell you you’re missing something,” he said pointedly.

“I have spoken to Nott, and I am sorry for her. She really means well—”

Molly cracked a smile. “Don’t worry, I know. I’m just teasing. Would you like to see what’s happening in the present?”

“ _Ja_ , please.”

He turned it over. 

“They really like their night-time imagery, don’t they?” Caleb asked.

“There’s a lot to do at night,” Molly said, slipping into innuendo as panic began to build in the back of his mind.

“What is this one?”

“The Moon,” said Molly. “It’s…it’s a symbol of fluctuation and uncertainty. Things are confusing, right now, which I guess is true, and I’m being guided by intuition. Mental blocks and deliberate action take second place to instinct.”

“That sounds pretty right to me,” Caleb remarked. “Not the uncertainty part I mean,” he quickly amended, “but the intuition part. You strike me as a very instinct-based person.”

“Is that good?”

“I think so. It does make sense, for instinct to be guiding you if you have only two years of memories, as you said before.”

“That’s a fair point,” Molly agreed. 

“Are fortunes usually this cohesive?” Caleb asked.

Molly bit the inside of his lip. “…yes?” he tried. Then he shrugged and said, “It’s all just a story you get from the cards. The interpretation is up to you.”

“Then it is good that you are a practiced interpreter, yes?” Caleb smiled. “What is the next card?”

As Molly reached over to the deck, he glared at the back of the card. _If I pull Strength, right now, I’m going to buy a new deck,_ he thought.

He turned the card over.

“That does not seem very optimistic,” Caleb said carefully. 

Molly stared at the card. He wished it was Strength. 

“Are you…are you alright with telling me what it means?” Caleb asked slowly. 

“Yes,” said Molly, not sounding all right at all. “It’s…er…it’s the Tower.”

“What…what does it mean?”

“It’s…I’m going to admit, it’s not great. Usually not the best sign. It signals a time of great turmoil, of things breaking apart and a sort of overall, general upheaval and loss.”

“I see.”

“It’s…it’s not something you look forwards too.”

Caleb floundered for something to say. “I…er…I am sorry, Mollymauk.”

Molly sighed, and gave Caleb a smile. “Don’t worry, dear. It is sort of like the Death card in that it means there’s new opportunities afterwards. You know, you’ve got to destroy to build and all that.” 

“Well, that is good, _ja_?”

“ _Ja_ ,” said Molly, and grinned when Caleb laughed softly. 

From behind them, the sounds of swords clanging came to a halt. They turned around just in time to see Fjord wince at the strength behind Yasha’s handshake, and then the two fighters finished their sparring bout and walked over to their table. Molly quickly collected his cards.

“Hey, where did the others go?” Fjord asked.

“I think Jester called it a ‘girls’ day’ or something like that?” Molly said.

“I’m a girl,” said Yasha.

“They went to paint their fingernails,” said Caleb.

“I see. And Beau and Nott went willingly?” Yasha asked. 

“Sort of,” said Molly. “We can explain later. For now, why don’t we get something to eat? You guys must be starving.”

Fjord nodded. “Fighting a barbarian really takes it out of you,” he said cheerfully.

“You didn’t do too bad either,” Yasha said generously. “Next time I will even use my sword.”

Molly started snickering, and did not stop until their dinner was ready.

\----------------------

“—and then Beau punched him, and he gave me my money back,” Jester said cheerfully.

“And he didn’t even notice when I stole his belt and pouch and ring,” Nott finished, placing the aforementioned goods on the counter. 

“And _that_ was your girl’s day?” Yasha asked. “I want to come next time.”

“Please do,” said Beau immediately. 

“What did you all get up to?” asked Nott. “Did you do anything fun while we were gone?” 

“Well, we finished half of our dinner,” Molly said. “The other half I believe is on your plate.”

Jester shrugged. “Nott is still growing. She needs her proteins.”

“And apparently most of mine and Fjord’s proteins too,” Molly said with a raised eyebrow. 

Caleb plucked a slice of ham from his plate and placed it onto Molly’s.

“Thank you, dear,” Molly said sarcastically, but accepted the gift nonetheless.

“The full moon is in three nights,” Fjord said, changing the subject. “Do we have any more theories on what could be down there?”

“Apparently there’s been even more stuff coming out from the sewers," said Beau. "In all parts of the city, too, even in the Tri-Spires.”

“I know we’re badass and all that,” Jester said slowly, “but do you think this is something we’ll be able to handle? I mean, everything underground is running away from…from whatever it is.” 

“We’ll be fine,” said Nott. Everybody turned to look at her uncharacteristic outburst.

“No more tonight,” said Caleb, and gently tugged the flask away.

“Getting that thing made might have been a mistake,” said Fjord.

“Never,” said Nott. 

“Have we gotten any holy water?” Jester asked. “Just in case it is undead we are fighting?”

“Yeah,” said Molly, and patted the side of his coat. “Went and fetched it this morning.”

“And do we know approximately where we are going?” Caleb asked.

“It’s somewhere under the west side of the Interstead Sprawl,” said Fjord. “I was thinking we could all go in together, and explore the tunnels in teams to cover the most ground. Then we double back, and all gather together to decide the most likely places.”

Beau reached into her bag and pulled out three scrolls. “These are maps of the sewer systems Caleb and I copied at the Archive the other day. They’re not exactly recent, but they’re better than nothing. Each team can take one, and scout out a different section.”

“Is that safe?” Nott asked. 

“It’s just to get a feel of the place,” explained Beau, “not to fight. “We’ll only be able to notice the weird stuff while the moon is up, so we need to get through as much of the area as possible to figure out where the source is.”

“How are we splitting up?” Molly asked. 

Fjord rubbed his chin. “We should break up spellcasters and melee, to balance it out just in case. We also aren’t an even number now, so Yasha should be on the team of three. She’s the heaviest hitter and can protect the most people in a situation.” 

“I’ll go with her,” said Jester. “I work better when people aren’t hitting me.”

“Me too,” said Nott, “but Caleb—”

Caleb put a hand on her arm reassuringly. “Do not worry about me,” he said. “I think you also should go with Yasha. It is best for you when someone very tough is distracting the enemy.”

“And I am _very_ tough,” said Yasha.

“I’ll go with Caleb,” Molly said. “I’m melee, and good against undead, which’ll come in handy if I’m travelling with someone squishy.”

“That leaves me and Beau to take another area,” Fjord said, and Beau nodded.

“Here,” Molly fished out the vials of holy water, “you two take these. Beau knows how to use ‘em, and that way each team has some way of dealing radiant damage.” 

“That’s pretty good,” said Jester. 

“We can scout for about an hour,” Fjord said. “Then after that, we all meet back where we started, compare notes, and we pick the best path to travel on as a team. I don’t want to face the big bad unless everybody is there.”

There was a chorus of agreement.

“It’s nice to have a plan, for once,” Molly said.

“Exactly,” said Fjord. “Just stick to it, and we should be fine.” He handed passed a scroll over to Molly, and another over to Yasha, Nott, and Jester. “We move out in three days,” he said. “In the meantime, study those maps.”

\----------------------

There was a knock at the door.

“Hello?” Molly called. 

“ _Hallo_ ,” came the voice, “It is me. Caleb, I mean.”

“Come on in,” said Fjord, instantly standing up and walking to the door. He swung it open, and gave Caleb a polite smile. “I was just leaving,” he explained, and squeezed past. Before he disappeared behind the doorframe, he looked over his shoulder and sent the now-exasperated Molly an extremely unsubtle wink.

At least Caleb, as usual, was oblivious. He walked in with Frumpkin at his heels.

“What brings you here tonight?” Molly asked, sliding over on the bed to make room. “You aren’t drunk this time, are you?”

Caleb gave a short laugh as he sat down. “No, not tonight. I was just…I just wanted to apologize.”

“Apologize?”

Frumpkin leapt onto the covers and put his head down between the two of them.

“For the reading,” Caleb explained. “I myself did not entirely understand, but it seemed you pulled a bad card and were bothered by it.”

“Ah. Well, perhaps. That sort of thing does happen every once in a while.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Usually when I mess up and palm the wrong card,” Molly said with a wry smile. "Or, apparently, when I try to read fortunes for myself without messing with the deck first."

“I see.”

Molly put a hand on Caleb’s shoulder. “Don’t sweat it,” he said. “Like I said, there are cards that can seem worse than they really are. All the conflict and exploding bricks and dying people and stuff, there’s good that comes after it.”

“Really?”

“Yes. If they made tarot cards that told you only bad things would happen, they wouldn’t sell.”

Caleb chuckled at that. “That does make sense,” he said. “You are sure you are alright?”

“Right as rain.”

“I am glad for that, Mollymauk. I did not like seeing you upset, and I especially did not like being the once who initiated that moment for you to become upset, and I was worried I had hurt you in some way—”

Molly placed a finger over Caleb’s lips. Caleb’s eyes went wide, and an intense blush began to bloom on his cheeks. Molly’s heart was pounding so hard and fast he almost could not remember how to breathe. He went for broke.

“You could never hurt me, Caleb,” he said. “Don’t worry so much, alright?”

He pulled his hands back. “It’s just cards,” he grinned. “Nothing to worry about.”

Caleb was still staring at Mollymauk, with a faint look of shock scrawled across his face. On autopilot, his hands reached for Frumpkin. 

After a while, he said, “Thank you, Mollymauk. For…er…for letting me know that.”

Molly leaned back, but did not break their gaze. “I appreciate you being concerned for me, though.”

“Of course. You…you are important to me. But since that is settled, I…ah…I will be returning to my room now.” He stood up, Frumpkin in his arms. “If that is alright?”

It was not alright. No part of that could ever be alright. “Of course,” said Molly. “Good night, Caleb.”

Wizard and cat made their way to the door. “Good night, Mollymauk,” Caleb said, and shut the door behind him. 

Molly collapsed in the bed. After a few moments, he reached into his pouch and pulled out his tarot deck. He rifled through the cards until the found the two he wanted, and set the rest down on the bed. Then he put one card in each hand. 

“The Tower,” he said softly.

Then he looked at the other, the one he had pulled earlier for Caleb. “And the Hanged Man,” he sighed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Comments and Kudos keep me going, and y'all your support has turned me into a fic-writing machine. (Remember chapter 1, where I said I would update every 5-6 days? That was a complete lie). Love you guys, and come shout about CR with me on Tumblr [@sockablock](https://www.sockablock.tumblr.com)! My inbox is always open <3


	6. Flowers Somewhere Better

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's Chapter 6! Things are gonna kick off soon, but today's menu includes some soft conversations, flower braiding, Jester/Fjord interactions, and other downtime shenanigans 
> 
> (Also! @caketastrophecosplay on tumblr did an amazing drawing of Molly and Caleb's tarot cards from the end of the last chapter! [Check it out](http://caketastrophecosplay.tumblr.com/post/173439425471/um-so-i-was-reading-sailorfjord-fanfic-in-the) because I am still screaming about it and thank you so much again for doing it! <3 )

Molly tried to balance the pastries in his arms as they made their way through the Pentamarket.

“I’m starting to think that Jester might have a problem,” he said jovially.

Caleb’s blue eyes peeked over a mound of bread. His voice was somewhat muffled. “ _Ja_? What was your first hint?” 

“How does she even _eat_ all of this?” 

“I think most is put into the haversack,” said Caleb. “I am sure that is the reason we cannot always fit our things in it anymore. She is filling it up with breads and sweets and not telling us.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised,” said Molly. 

They walked in amiable silence for a few moments. The crowd milled around them, occasionally sending strange looks that could have been aimed at the ostentatious tiefling, or at the two towers of bread slowly moving along the street.

“You know,” said Molly, “I think I’ve thought of a story I can tell you.”

“Oh?” asked Caleb. “Not one that must be in Infernal?”

“Nope,” said Molly. “It just came to mind, actually. And I don’t think anybody but Yasha knows it.”

“Have at it, then,” said Caleb. 

“When I first joined the circus, as you already know, it was all sort of a daze. I can barely remember the first few months. They’re like vague impressions and smoky shapes sort of just hanging around in my head. But after about half a year, _I_ started to emerge. You know, the Mollymauk Tealeaf you know and love today. I would play practical jokes on people and I learned how to juggle swords, and sometimes I would hum around the campfire, and I could fight off bandits and things like that. But I still wasn’t speaking.”

“What changed?”

“It was one night, about ten months in. Yasha and I shared a wagon, since we were the two newest members and we were in charge of a lot of the setup. But she had left that night, to go off and do whatever it is she does when she vanishes.”

“Bathe, according to Nott.”

“Sure,” said Molly. “Anyways, I was alone that night. And I couldn’t sleep. I think I was stargazing instead, looking up at the sky for anything that seemed familiar. But then I heard a noise coming from the wagon next to me, so I grabbed a sword and went to investigate.”

“What was there?”

Molly chuckled softly. “I thought it was a bandit or scavenger, sneaking around. Turns out it was Toya. Kylre…Kylre had left that night too, and now I have a feeling I know why. But he had left Toya behind, which was good and bad. Bad, because she was having a nightmare.”

“Oh.”

“Indeed. So, I went to try and comfort her, and she was thrashing around, muttering something about being alone, being afraid and being alone.”

“What did you do?”

Molly looked up. The clouds drifted lazily above them. “I held her,” he said. “I held her, and told her that she wasn’t alone anymore. Not to be scared, because we weren’t alone anymore. It was the first time I ever spoke.”

Caleb laughed, and the sound surprised Molly more than anything. “What’s so funny?” he asked. 

“It’s just…it’s just such a wonderful thing. The first time you spoke, Mollymauk Tealeaf, was to help a little girl having a nightmare.”

Molly shot the wizard a crooked grin. “I don’t think it was only for her, now that I’ve thought about it.”

Caleb nodded. “Perhaps,” he said. “But it was because of her that you said it out loud.”

\----------------------

“I bet it’s Pumat,” said Beau. They were back in the courtyard of the Song and Supper, this time finishing a lunch of too many pastries while they watched Mollymauk take on Jester and her sickle.

“No way,” said Nott. “It can’t be.”

“Oh yeah?” Beau asked through a mouthful of blueberry muffin. “Why not?”

“He’s too tall to fit in a sewer.”

There was a moment of silence. 

“Can’t…can’t he shrink himself down or something?” Fjord asked. “He seems like a powerful enough magic user to do that.”

“That would be such a waste of magic,” said Yasha, “especially if he has his store to use as a base.”

“Yeah, but that would get really suspicious really fast, wouldn’t it?” Beau countered. “People would notice if there was mysterious shit happening in the middle of the Pentamarket, but nobody would care about the sewer.”

“He’s too refined for a sewer,” said Nott.

“He’s a giant hairy monster.”

“I’m a tiny green monster.”

“Are you saying you’re refined?”

One of Molly’s swords went flying. “Hey!” he called. “I thought we said no magic!”

“No rules!” Jester cheered as her spiritual weapon went for another swing, “Just right!”

“It’s probably not Pumat,” said Caleb, turning a page on his book. “It’s probably been Dolan this whole time.”

They all stared at him. 

He looked up and met their puzzled gazes. “That was a joke,” he said, and sighed.

\----------------------

“We’re back from the Archive,” said Beau, kicking down the door. At this point, Molly was starting to think they should move inns again, just to spare Clay the headache. Perhaps now Wessick would be ready to have them back at the Leaky Tap.

“We have no new information,” Caleb added as he followed her to their usual table in the corner.

“So we’re just going to stick with the undead theory, and go from there?” Fjord suggested.

“It’s the best we’ve got,” said Beau. 

“Radiant damage usually works against most things anyways,” said Caleb, “so we should probably be alright. Did you get the healing potions?” he asked Yasha.

“Yes,” she said. “And Molly picked up some more holy water.”

“I’ve got it now,” said Fjord, and gestured to his side-pouch.

“I feel like we’re as ready as can be,” said Nott. “Two more days, right?’

Fjord nodded. “And then we go sewer-diving.”

\----------------------

“I have a strange question to ask you,” said Caleb.

“Oh?” Molly turned to face him.

“Yes. If I ask it, and if you answer, I will do the same for you.”

“It’s a nice system, isn’t it? The whole, one-for-one thing we’ve got going on now.”

“ _Ja_ , it is quite nice. Can I ask my question?”

“Shoot.”

“Are…are you afraid of anything?”

Molly subtly glanced around the tavern. Clay had moved to the other end of the bar and was dealing with one of the last customers of the night, and the rest of the Nein had already retired for the evening, leaving him and Caleb alone at the counter.

“Yes.” 

“Can I ask…what it is?”

Molly stared into his flagon. 

“Small spaces,” he said eventually. “Being crushed from all sides. Not being able to feel free air, or breathe, or move my body. Sometimes…sometimes the earth itself.”

He looked up at Caleb, whose gaze quickly flickered down to the table. 

“I…I am sorry.”

Molly tried for a small smile. “You’re not the one who caused it,” he said. “Blame that on whatever-his-name for being enough of a dick that people tried to bury ‘em.”

“You would need to be quite a dick to do that,” Caleb conceded with a smile in return. “You may ask your question now.”

Molly considered the man sitting next to him. Around his own flagon, Caleb’s fingers trembled slightly.

“I don’t have to,” he said.

“I want you to.”

“Alright then, Caleb. What are _you_ afraid of?”

Molly had a feeling he already knew the answer.

“…fire,” said Caleb. “But not…not the sort when you strike a torch or light a match or slide two stones together.”

He nodded slowly. “A different sort?”

“My sort,” he said quietly. “The sort that appears when I snap my fingers, or when you flick a wand, or when they ask you for it, even when you want desperately to say no.”

There was silence, as Molly digested this.

“We’re pretty fucked up, eh?” he said eventually.

This won a brief laugh from Caleb. “I will drink to that, my friend.”

The flagons clinked together. Their fingers made the lightest contact, before both of them pulled away.

\----------------------

“Who’s winning?” Molly asked. “I can’t see anything, who’s winning?”

“This is a subjective sort of thing,” Caleb said, petting Frumpkin in his lap. “I do not think there can be a winner.”

“I’m the winner,” said Nott and Jester at exactly the same time.

Beau looked over the scene in front of her. Caleb and Molly both sat on the floor of hers and Jester’s room at the end of the bed, as Jester and Nott leaned over the footboard to work. There was a small pile of dried or drying flowers next to each girl. They were weaving the stems into Caleb and Molly’s hair, Nott deftly navigating the ginger locks with practiced fingers, and Jester decorating purple curls and placing tiny garlands over Molly’s horns.

“How am I supposed to decide, again?” Beau asked.

“Based on which one looks the best,” Nott said.

Beau considered Molly and Caleb. “Neither,” she said. 

“It’s not fair,” Jester pouted. “Caleb has much longer hair. You have more to work with.”

“Molly has horns,” Nott countered, “that’s like having two heads to decorate.”

Caleb lifted Frumpkin into the air, the cat’s face pointed towards his own head. A familiar pearly sheen washed over both of their eyes as Caleb melded his senses with his familiar’s.

“It’s coming along quite nicely,” he said to Nott. “The little purple ones are nice. And the blue ones are quite pretty.”

“Thank you,” she said. “I have no idea what they are.”

Jester peered over. “Lavender,” she said. “And forget-me-nots. Caleb, look at the ones I am giving Molly! Don’t you think red and yellow are good for him?”

He swiveled Frumpkin to his left. The cat meowed in a defeated sort of way. “These are lovely as well, Jester.”

“They’re firecrackers,” she said, “and golden wildflowers.”

“ _Interesting choices_ ,” Molly sighed. 

“ _Thank you_ ,” Jester said cheerfully. “ _You are very observant_.”

“ _It’s so obvious only Caleb could miss it_ ,” he responded.

“No Infernal when everybody else is here,” Nott said reproachfully. “It’s not nice to the team when we don’t understand you.”

“I could cast Comprehend Languages,” Caleb suggested as his senses returned to him. “Though I would rather not waste a spell doing it.”

“Don’t bother,” Molly said, switching back to Common, “I was just teasing Jester.”

“My pastry habit is none of your business,” she said, and winked, and forgot that Molly could not see her. 

“How much longer will I have to stay here?” Beau asked. “I was going to go help Yasha look for a new whetstone.”

Jester perked up. “Oh, go do that! And here, I have some bluebells somewhere, give those to her, alright? Don’t say that they are from me.”

Beau raised an eyebrow. “Who should I say they’re from, then?”

“You can say they’re from me,” Molly grinned.

Caleb sighed. “Just say that _you_ got them for her, Beauregard.”

\----------------------

“Fjord, you are picking at your tusks.”

“What? Oh, uh, thank you, Jester. Er, where are you going?”

“To get more flowers! I will get you some as well, wait there!”

\----------------------

Molly leaned back against the bed, trying to find a comfortable position for his horns.

“How long do you think we’ll need to sit here?” he asked Caleb.

“I don’t know, it could be a couple hours with those two.”

“Impressive how they’re finding spring flowers at the end of the harvest, isn’t it?”

“Actually, the climate down here is warm enough that most can last quite some time.”

“Why do you know so much about flowers?”

Caleb shrugged. ‘I’m a farmer’s son. Besides, I did a lot of reading as a boy, but nearly all of the only books we had lying around were about agriculture.”

“Including flowers?”

“Farming is a wide subject.”

Molly glanced over at the blooms in Caleb’s hair. “You look quite nice,” he said.

The blush instantly returned, and Molly panicked. “I-I mean, with the flowers. They make you look like some sort of druid.”

Caleb chucked at this. “Thank you, I think. You are already rather colorful, my friend, but I think they also go nicely in your hair.” 

Molly grinned, and leaned back against the footboard. He closed his eyes peaceably. “Perhaps we should let the girls dress us up more often.”

“Perhaps. Though we usually do not have this sort of down-time.”

“Are you nervous for the fight?”

“ _Ja_ , but I am nervous about every fight we have. After a while, it all sort of just blends together.”

“I try not to worry about things, though the idea that all the sewer monsters are running away from whatever it is does not inspire confidence.”

“Before intense...situations,” Caleb said slowly, “we would always gather around one another and lock arms. We would close our eyes and breathe quietly, and then once we were summoned, we would all squeeze each other’s hands and nod before moving on.”

“Did it help?” Molly asked.

“Yes.”

“Did…did you do this sort of thing frequently?” 

“Yes.”

Molly peeked an eye open. “You know, the circus never did stuff like that, exactly. I mean, most of us hated one another. We were all assholes, except for Toya. But we looked out for each other. I remember once a guy started giving me shit for, well, for looking like me. Called me all the classic sayings, and I didn’t know what to do. I still wasn’t talking, and I didn’t even know this sort of thing could happen at the time. And just as he started closing in on me, and all of a sudden, a huge green fist clocked him in the side of the head, and a fiery blur was on him with a dagger right up to his throat. It was Bosun and Ornna. Bo stood behind her with his arms crossed, as she told him to piss off, or she’d point the blade at something lower down.”

Caleb grinned. “They aren’t complete assholes, then.”

“No,” said Molly. “Of course, he reported us to the Crownsguard and we had to pack up real quick that night, but Ornna told me as we were leaving that a shitstain town like that didn’t deserve any music or stories or joy.”

“I find I rather agree with that.”

“Plus we had stolen pretty much everything we could have already, so there wasn’t much point in staying any longer.”

Caleb laughed at that. “A wise assessment. Nott and I have had to make a few quick exits as well.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Of course. Not everybody is as willing to be scammed as Jester. And the Money Pot is nowhere near the strangest one. There is also Rat Food, Kingfisher, the list goes on. It has been some time since we used them.”

“Since signing up with the rest of us?”

“Exactly.”

“Do you miss it?”

Caleb met Molly’s gaze. The faint blush was back, a pink dusting over his cheeks. “Sometimes,” he said. Then he reached into his hair and pulled out a lavender blossom. “But, you know, I think that now I am somewhere better.”

\----------------------

“And then Desmond set off a firework, right in the guard’s face!”

“No, no,” said Yasha, “it was Gustav who did that.” The woman was sharpening her sword as she spoke.

“I hate to interrupt the story,” Nott said, “but why is Yasha rubbing the ancient, all-powerful mage-killing greatsword with a stone duck?”

“It’s quartz,” said Yasha. 

“It’s the whetstone we got today,” said Beau.

“It’s a duck,” said Nott.

“They’re allowed to look like whatever they want to,” said Yasha.

“Is it being a duck a Xhorhastian thing? Is it your national animal?”

“No,” said Yasha.

Caleb sighed. “Sometimes it is nice to have an animal friend. Even if you put a sword to it constantly.”

Nott seemed satisfied with that answer. “I _did_ eat Frumpkin, twice,” she agreed.

In the corner, Frumpkin opened a large, golden eye and stared at Nott. Nott stared back with the exact same look.

\----------------------

Jester and Nott had kicked Caleb and Molly out of the room, and told them to sit in the hallway.

“Why, again?” Caleb asked.

“Jester needs a moment to get ready. I understand.”

“But why must we sit in the hallway?” Caleb asked.

“She’ll probably drag us back in once she’s picked out what to wear,” Molly shrugged.

There was moment where the two sat in a comfortable silence.

Then Caleb spoke. “Molly? How did you know you spoke Infernal? Did Kylre speak it to you?”

Molly laughed. “No, no. If he had, I imagine it would not have helped his disguise as a common lizardman. No, it just sort of…happened one day. We were in a fight with some bandits, just after the first year, and for some reason I decided to yell at one of ‘em. Except that once I did, blood started coming out of his nose, and I realized I hadn’t been speaking Common.”

“How did the rest of the troupe respond?”

“Actually, without much concern. Apparently they all figured I knew Infernal based on…based on sort of my overall being. It was more surprising to them that I didn’t even remember which languages I knew.”

“Do you think there are more that you should know?” Caleb asked.

“Infernal, now that I’ve learned a bit more about…a bit more about being a tiefling, is the obvious choice. Other than that, I’m not sure.”

“ _Can you understand me_?”

“I have no idea what you’re saying.”

“ _What about now_?”

“Caleb, are you swearing at me?”

“ _I already know you don’t understand Zemnian, but now I’m having fun_.”

“Alright, well, I know which _language_ that last one was, but I’ve no idea what you said.”

Caleb chuckled. “I was just testing,” he said. “Those first two were Celestial and Sylvan.”

“You speak _Sylvan_?”

“ _Ja_ , I do.”

“Celestial I sort of get, with religion and whatnot, but where did a farmer’s boy learn to speak the language of the fairies?”

Caleb’s smile faded just slightly. Molly felt an ache at the sight.

“Perhaps that is something we could discuss another time?”

Molly’s heart started racing. Was Caleb upset at him for asking? Or was this an invitation to speak later, in a more private environment? 

“Sure,” he said.

“Thank you. You know, I quite like the sound of Infernal.”

“…really?”

“Yes.”

“It’s harsh,” said Molly, “and rather rough around the edges. Most people hate it.”

“I have heard those criticisms about Zemnian as well.”

“Alright, fair point.”

“Truth be told, though I understand nothing, I rather like listening to you speak it. It…it reminds me a bit of home.”

“ _Is that so? I’ll keep that in mind, then_.”

Caleb cracked a smile. “I hope you are not speaking ill of me.”

“ _I’m not sure I ever could_ ,” he sighed, then switched to Common and said, “I absolutely am.”

\----------------------

“You look great, but will he notice?” Nott asked.

“He is almost as dumb as Caleb,” Beau said, and Caleb sighed.

“You’ve got this,” Molly said. 

“Just be yourself,” Yasha said. “You are very endearing.” 

\----------------------

“Fjord?”

“Hmm?”

“Would you like to go for a walk with me?”

“I—oh, uh…sure. Yeah, of course. Actually, that sounds rather nice.”

\----------------------

Beau sighed, and Caleb lowered the dagger. “ _Verzeihung_ ,” he said, “I am not very good at this.” 

“You’ve got to put your thumb just under the hilt,” Nott piped up. “That makes it easier to move it around.”

“I think I might be better sticking to spells,” Caleb said. “I am not planning on getting close to the fight as is.”

“But what happens if something catches you unawares?” said Yasha, who was watching with interest. “What if you run out of magic, or what if whatever you’re fighting can only be hit with physical attacks?”

“I do not think we will be up against a Rakshasa,” Caleb said, “but you have a point.” 

“No, _you_ have the point,” said Molly, and Beau threw a ball bearing at his head. 

“Do you think we should wait for Fjord and Jester to come back before we start eating?” Nott asked. “I’m starving.”

“I’d like to eat too,” said Beau, “and Clay probably doesn’t like that we’re playing with a dagger in the middle of his tav—"

The door flew open. Jester limped in. Supported by her shoulder was an extremely worn-out-looking Fjord, limping even harder. The Nein rushed over. The rest of the bar, used to a certain lifestyle in this part of Zadash, returned to their business. 

“Are you two okay?” Molly asked.

“What happened?” Beau asked. 

“We were attacked by another sewer monster,” Jester said, helping Fjord into a chair. “You’ll never guess what it was.”

“Wanna bet?” Beau asked.

“No,” said Jester, “because we have no idea what it was either.”

“It was some sort of giant, weird centipede,” Fjord said. “And when I say giant, I mean it was four feet long and had pincers the size of Frumpkin.”

“That’s giant,” said Caleb, and turned to Beau. “Have you ever heard of something like that?”

“Maybe,” said Beau, “although I’m not sure.”

“It had these weird tentacles coming out of its face,” Jester added, “and giant eyeballs and lots and lots of legs.”

“Carrion Crawler,” said Yasha from the back of the group. They turned to look at her.

“I don’t know where I heard of them before,” she shrugged, “but those are Carrion Crawlers you are describing. Great big insects, live underground, feed on waste, smell awful.”

“They did smell awful,” Jester agreed. 

“So that’s what?” Molly asked. “The fifth instance of shit appearing out of the sewers and onto the streets?”

“Yeah,” said Fjord. “The Crownsguard we fought ‘em with mentioned something about the King’s Hall putting out a reward for anybody who wants to go down into the systems and figure out what’s going on.”

“We’re already doing that,” said Nott. “But for someone else.”

“We might go inquire regardless,” suggested Caleb. “Could mean more support, or more money for us.”

Fjord nodded. “Some of us can do that tomorrow,” he said. “But for now, I think I might need to turn in early tonight.”

Jester stood up. “Do you need help going upstairs?” she asked.

\----------------------

“I have another question.”

The bar was empty again.

“Go for it.”

“Have you...have you ever loved somebody? I know you have not been around for all that long, but…”

“Well, I’m certainly no stranger to the...the pleasures of life, and I _have_ been known to stop by certain parts of town to meet new people in rather intimate ways. I was with the circus for a long while, you know, and they don’t encourage boredom—or loneliness—at all. But _love_? I’m not too sure. That’s…that’s quite a lot.”

“That is true.”

“Have _you_ ever loved somebody?”

“I did. A long, long time ago I did. But now...now things are very different.”

“I see.”

"It is alright. Besides, I have been doing some thinking, and now things have changed. I have been considering...considering what love should be, how it should feel, and who my love should belong to."

\----------------------

Now it was almost three in the morning.

“You are absolutely intoxicated,” Caleb said. “How many did you have?”

“Not that much, up until that last bottle. That…that Gold Crown, Crown Gold or whatever it…whatever it was. You were smart not to try any, that was the worst whiskey I’ve ever had in my life.”

“Why did you keep drinking it?”

Molly shrugged. “Tasted terrible.”

“That is the opposite of a reason.”

The tiefling hiccupped and shrugged again. 

“Perhaps you should retire now for the evening. Or morning, in this instance.”

“Could you help me up to my room?”

Caleb gave a weak smile, and put his arm under Molly’s, letting the other man lean against his shoulder as they made their way upstairs. They opened the door to the room, letting the low hallway light crept in.

Fjord, lying on a mat on the ground, did not notice. He appeared to be deep in sleep, though his brow was furrowed and his hand clenched at his sheets in a tight knot. 

“He’s dreaming about saltwater,” Molly said as quietly as he could in his current state. “He does that sometimes.”

“Should we wake him?”

“Nah. Hasn’t died yet.”

Caleb helped Molly take his coat off and climb onto the bed.

“Will you be alright?” he asked.

“Always am,” Molly said, and tried to wink, but just closed both his eyes for a moment instead.

“I will take my leave, now, in that case. Good—”

“Wait,” Molly whispered suddenly.

Caleb blinked. “Er…yes?”

Molly seemed to be struggling for the words. “Do…do you remember what I said to you, that night?”

“That night?”

“When you were the drunk one.”

“I remember hearing it, but it was in Infernal. The big secret, _ja_?”

“Yes,” said Molly. “I…I really want to tell you it.”

Caleb crouched down by the tiefling’s head.

“Should you perhaps wait until you are sober?”

Molly shook his head. “I can’t say it when I’m sober. Not in Common.”

“I do not want you to say something you will regret later,” said Caleb.

“But…”

“No, _bitte_. You should be fully aware of yourself if you are to tell me something that important.”

Molly looked defeated. “I…I know.”

“Some other time, maybe?”

“I promise. I will, I promise. I promise.”

“I hope this is a promise you will be able to remember, then. You did drink an entire bottle of whiskey, along with whatever else we had.”

“It was a _small_ bottle,” Molly grinned. “And I’m a circus boy. If we couldn’t remember what we did drunk, we wouldn’t be able to remember anything.”

“That is quite concerning.”

“Thank you.”

Caleb gave him a pat on the shoulder, and smiled. “You are welcome. Now, I will see you tomorrow morning, alright? Good night, Mollymauk.”

After he left, Molly stared at the door. “ _Good night, Caleb_ ,” he sighed. “ _I love you_.”

On the floor, Fjord tossed and turned. Molly closed his eyes, and pulled the covers over his head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so so much for reading! Comments and Kudos keep me going, and if you wanna scream at me about this campaign or the last, find me [@sockablock](https://www.sockablock.tumblr.com) on tumblr!


	7. Memories of Fire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Thursday (Wednesday morning whatever) y’all! To celebrate, here’s Chapter 7! Stuff this time: Emotional jam sessions with Nott/Fjord; the gals talk; Caleb's Big Secret; [this website](https://www.bcprecision.com/blogs/news/57238725-ball-bearing-weight-chart); Blue Man Group; the sewer exploits begin

“The Gentleman says he’s alright with us taking on a contract for the King’s Hall at the same time,” said Fjord. 

The party was in Beau, Jester, and Yasha’s room that afternoon, planning for tomorrow. Most of them sat in a semicircle on the floor, with Jester and Nott perched on the chest at the foot of the bed. Three maps were spread out on the wood before them. Frumpkin scratched his claws along a chair leg in the background. 

“Excellent,” grinned Molly. “A two-for-one deal.”

“We just have to report back to the Gentleman first,” said Beau. “He wants to get the details before anyone else, and he’ll probably decide what we can and can’t tell the Herald.”

“That makes sense,” Caleb sighed, “since we _will_ be moving through his territory.”

“Kara suggests we should check out these areas of the sewers,” Beau said, using her staff to point to a series of ink circles. “She says shit’s happened there. Also, I’m not entirely sure how happy they are that we were able to find these maps.”

“Luckily for them,” Fjord said, “they aren’t completely accurate or up-to-date, so they don’t have to worry about all of their secret passages and important shortcuts being discovered. Unluckily for us.”

“Why do they not just give us our own maps, then?” Yasha asked.

“They don’t trust us not to copy them down,” Fjord said, then gave a sideways glance to Caleb. “Not that we would need to.”

“They still don’t know about the Frumpkin arrangement,” Nott grinned proudly. Said cat continued to decimate the chair behind them.

“Anybody have any preferences for where to go?” Beau asked. 

“We can take the northern passageways,” said Molly, looking at the scroll. 

“We will go west!” Jester declared, and Yasha nodded.

“South for us it is, then,” said Beau. 

“Remember, everyone, don’t engage with anything if you can avoid it,” said Fjord. “After an hour, we’ll meet back at the entrance and compare notes. Then we move further as a group.” 

Jester leaned against the footboard. “I’m not going to lie, I’m getting a little nervous about this fight.”

“I don’t like not knowing what we are up against,” said Yasha.

“It’s…it’s no big deal,” Beau said. “We killed crazy wraith guy in an abandoned laboratory, we fought off a devil toad, we even took out a huge fucking manticore! And a bunch of gnolls and a weird dark priest all at the same time! We got this.”

“We’ll be fine as long as we work together,” Fjord said. The rest exchanged hesitant looks before nodding slowly.

\----------------------

“I asked you this a while ago,” Caleb said slowly, “but if you wouldn’t mind, could I ask it again?”

Nott looked up. She was prepping spells for tomorrow, methodically pulling small components out of her pouch and examining them. There was already a strange assortment of items spread out on the floor in front of her: little bits of cotton, chicken feathers, strips of copper wire. Caleb, sitting on the bed, was doing the same. He had a clay cat’s paw in his hands and various small objects scattered on the sheets around him.

“Ask away,” she said.

He took a deep breath. “What do you think of Mollymauk?”

She fiddled with a bit of string. “What do I think of Mollymauk?”

“ _Ja._ ”

“Well…I think he’s a bit of a bastard, who lets his own feelings get in the way of understanding why other people do things. He speaks in circles about trusting and not trusting and doesn’t accept it when you argue with him, or at least if you don’t pretend to agree. I think he’s weird and a fool for not wanting to know more about his past, especially when it’s obviously coming back to bite him. He thinks he’s smarter than he is. He puts on a display of flashiness and charm to hide how scared he is, and how much he really doesn’t know about the world.”

Caleb stared at the cat’s paw, thinking. Then, just as he opened his mouth to respond, Nott held up a finger. 

“He’s also a brave fighter," she said slowly, as if she were admitting a secret. "He’s quick to defend, and he’s good at thinking on his feet. With the group, he’s way more loyal and caring than I thought he’d ever be. He might not like all of us, but everything he does is to keep us together and make sure everybody gets their fair share. He’s kind to people who don’t deserve it, and he cares about people who don’t care for themselves,” she added, and gave Caleb a pointed look.

“He’s a good person. Maybe he’s a weird idiot, but he’s a good person. Especially for you.” 

Caleb was silent for a while. Then, “Thank you for that, Nott.”

“What do _you_ think of Mollymauk?”

“I…I was not so sure at first. But I believe I think quite highly of him, now.”

She gave him a wide grin. “Are you going to tell him that?” she asked.

He fidgeted with the paw. “I don’t know,” he said. “I want to, but I don’t know.”

“I don’t think you need to worry about rushing to do it,” Nott said helpfully. “It seems like he’d be willing to wait a while for you.”

Caleb did not answer, but he did give a small smile. 

“Hey, have you got some copper wire I can borrow?” Nott asked. “I’ve only got a bit left.”

“Of course, _spatz_. Here you go.”

\----------------------

“Don’t you think we should get you some real swords?” Fjord asked.

Molly, from his perch on the bed, shrugged. “These have been with me a while, now.”

“But aren’t they prop swords? Made of ‘cheap carnival glass’ or something?”

“Yes, but remember, the magic has been within me all along,” Molly said, and grinned. “I’m pretty sure I could give myself a splinter on a club and it would be just as deadly as a sword. I could use this—” and he held up the needle and thread he was using mend a tear in his coat, “—and I could probably do a fair bit of radiant or ice damage along with it.”

“Right, right, but if you had a proper weapon, you wouldn’t have to cut yourself to fight.”

Molly opened his mouth, and then closed it again. Fjord, who was cleaning his leathers for the coming fight, watched the tiefling’s expression changing with interest.

“I…I _guess_ so,” Molly said eventually. “But I’ve never not fought they way I do. I’m not sure I know any other ways.”

Fjord gave Molly a small smile. “If you ever want to spar, I’m here.”

“Thank you, Fjord Tough.”

Fjord sighed. “Don’t make me rescind that offer.”

“Do you prefer Oskar?” Molly teased, and Fjord blushed.

“I think I’ll go with Fjord Tough.”

“How _was_ your walk with Jester last night?” Molly asked as casually as possible. 

“Oh, er…good? It was nice to be able to walk around the markets, just the two of us.”

Molly leaned in, and a grin was starting to break through his mask of nonchalance. “Really? What did you two do, just stroll and talk, or…?”

Fjord missed the open-ended nature of the question. “Actually, if you remember, we ended up fighting a…what did Yasha call ‘em? A Carrion Crawler. In the middle of the street, along with three Crownsguard. Those things are tough. And not to criticize the lovely men and women that protect us, but this city’s law enforcement is useless.”

Molly laughed. “Better to call in the rest of the Nein when you need something.”

Fjord nodded. “But other than that, yeah, it was rather pleasant.”

“I’m glad.”

“It’s…it’s no secret that Jester likes to flirt with me,” Fjord sighed. “More so than with Caleb and all the others, and definitely not just to make me embarrassed, don’t think I haven’t noticed that.”

“I never doubted your romantic observation skills.”

“And she’s a lovely person,” he continued, ignoring Molly’s cheek, “don’t get me wrong. I just feel I need more time before I go off making any decisions.”

“More moonlit strolls.”

“Sure, yeah.”

Molly nodded and went back to sewing up his sleeve. 

“How are you and Caleb?” Fjord asked.

Molly didn’t look up, but he could feel the weight of Fjord’s curious glance. He sighed. “There’s no point in pretending there’s nothing going on, right?”

“Jester told us about it all like…a week ago.”

“Yeah, that makes sense. What do _you_ think?”

Fjord thought for a moment. “It’s definitely not a match I saw coming,” he said. “After all, you’re very outgoing and he’s the least outgoing person I’ve ever met. He sucks at talking to people. You’re a lot of color and…pizazz, but I think if Caleb laid down on the ground he would blend in so well we wouldn’t be able to see him anymore. He’s very analytical, and you have a lot of heart.”

Fjord looked down at the faint arcane sigils spiraling across his armor. They glowed a soft blue. 

“But then…it also makes a ridiculous amount of sense,” he said. “I don’t really know that much about him, yet, but you’re both on your second start. You both focus on the good of the group, trying to heal up and protect everyone. You bring out good things in one another. Caleb makes you calmer, a little less impulsive, while you being around makes him braver in combat and more likely to speak up to strangers. You keep him honest, and he’s always supported your decision to forget the past. You’ve got a sense of humor, and he does too, though it’s a bit more hidden. You’re both kind. And you both care about one another quite a bit.”

Molly finished closing the hole in his coat. He put down the needle and looked up at Fjord.

“That’s what I think, anyways,” said the half-orc. “Does it help?”

Molly gave him a slow grin. “I think it does,” he said.

“Is that how you feel about him?”

“I…yes. Not quite that well-said, though. Mostly my brain has just been a jumble of feelings. So, er, thank you for that.”

“No problem.”

“And if you ever want us to purposefully get you and Jester alone, like you lot have been doing for me despite my not asking for it, just say the word.”

Fjord chuckled. “I might take you up on that one day. Though I think Jester is good enough at…at being Jester to create those scenarios by herself.”

“Now that’s the truth.”

There was a brief silence.

“Are you going to tell Caleb about how you feel?”

Molly sighed. “I…I’m not sure,” he said. “I want to. I really want to. I just…there’s still a part of me that doesn’t know whether or not he feels the same, no matter how much everybody tells me he does. I think I just need more time, or maybe I just need to hear it from _him_. I don’t…I’m not exactly the most experienced in this department.”

“You _are_ two years old.”

“That is not the same thing.”

Fjord grinned. “Come on, you’re not the only one allowed to tease.”

“Fair enough. But, well, as I was saying…I’d just like to be absolutely _ready_ before I say anything.” 

“I understand.”

“I’m glad you do. It’s been a weird week. I’ll…I’ll tell him soon. I will.”

“I don’t think there’s any rush,” said Fjord. “This is important, and important things take time.”

\----------------------

“Those dumb shits need to kiss _now_ ,” said Jester, flopping down on the bed.

Beau yanked her staff out of the way just before the tiefling's head could bump into it. She sighed, changed the angle of the weapon, and continued to polish it. 

“Why is it so important that they must kiss now?” Yasha asked. She was cleaning her bracers by the table, her new whetstone duck placed next to the rest of her armor as if in a place of honor.

“Because I am putting so much of my focus into those two, I am neglecting everything else,” Jester said. “I am drawing much less, now, and I haven’t thought of any good pranks in days.”

“Isn’t that _your_ problem?” Beau asked.

Jester looked up with a raised eyebrow. “That sounded much worse than it was, so I forgive you.”

“What do you mean—”

“I just am so _busy_ hoping that they will finally get together, that my brain power is being used up. It’s just how that goes,” Jester said.

Beau gave up. “Sure,” she agreed.

“Jester, do you have everything you need for tomorrow night?” Yasha asked.

“Yes!” she said. “I even worked a bit on the map and cleaned my symbol to the Traveler.”

“What do you mean?” Beau asked.

“You’re doing it right now to your staff,” Jester said with a raised eyebrow. “You take a cloth and you spit on it and—”

“No, no, I mean what do you mean worked on the map?”

Jester reached for the haversack and produced Team Yasha’s map. “Look, I drew the monsters we fought in the sewers. This is the slime thing, these are the rats, and that’s the giant centipede Fjord and I killed.”

“…why?”

“So we know what to look out for!”

“That is a good idea,” said Yasha. “Nice work.”

Jester beamed, and Beau sighed. 

“Sure,” she agreed, “thanks for the help.”

\----------------------

“Hey,” Molly said, knocking against the doorframe to Caleb’s room. “Ready to come down?”

“ _Ja_ , give me a moment. Come in, also.”

Molly walked into the room and crossed his arms. Caleb had a boot on the mattress and was doing up his laces. “Is Nott there now?” he asked. 

“Yeah, she sent me up here to come get you. We’re going to head over to the King’s Hall to get our writ, then over to the Nip for the real job details.”

“Before we go down,” Caleb said slowly, “I have something I would like to say.”

Molly raised an eyebrow. “Should I sit down for this?”

Caleb gestured vaguely over to the chest at the foot of the bed. Molly walked over and sat down. Caleb finished tying his shoes and took a seat on the bed. 

“You asked me yesterday how I learned to speak Sylvan.”

Molly nodded. 

“And do you remember that time in the baths, when I told you I had found a way to attend the academy?”

“Before we had to go kill a blob of slime.”

“Right, that ate a woman and tried to eat Jester.”

“Yes,” Molly said, cracking a smile. “Hard to forget that.”

“Indeed. Well, I am going to tell you about it now. Although I remember that I already partially did, that other night. That was my secret. The one that I did not tell you on purpose.”

Molly’s eyes widened. “Look, Caleb, I’m—”

He reached over and put a hand on Molly’s shoulder. “I admit I was not pleased when I remembered what had happened, and that you lied to me. But I also remember you trying to stop me, and agreeing to let me speak when I told you I wanted to tell you anyways. And, you know, I am telling it to you now, again, and this time it is on purpose.”

“I _am_ sorry, Caleb.”

“I know. Thank you. Could I tell you now?”

“Of course,” said Molly. “As long as you want to.”

“I do,” he said, and took a deep breath to steel himself. “You might recall,” he began, “that Soltryce only accepts the rich students. However, that is not strictly true. Every once in a while they would find eh…a diamond in the rough. And one year, that was me. They took me in, along with two others from my town. And I worked hard, _very_ hard, for a year.”

“Just a year?”

“ _Ja_ , well, after that…one of the mages took an interest in me. And the two others. He…he was the man we met after the battle in the Victory Pit. I will not speak his name, but he was there with the Headmaster. And he took us, the three of us, to his home in the country. And he trained us.”

“…how…how so?”

“He hurt us,” Caleb said softly. “He hurt us. But we always got stronger from it. And I was happy. I was working to make the empire strong, to make something of myself.”

“But…but he was _hurting_ you still.”

Caleb gave a bitter chuckle. “He was, but I did not realize until much later. And…and I believe I deserved it. Not…not for the reason you may think, but in retrospect, I deserved pain for what I was doing.”

“There is _no_ way—”

Caleb held out a hand, and Molly went silent. “Let me continue, please. I…I need to finish.”

Molly relented, and the wizard took a deep breath.

“As part of our training, he brought us traitors to the empire. Vile, filthy individuals, treasonous and disgusting. And…and we killed them. Executed them. I…I have burned _many_ people to death, Molly, and those who survived? Better off dead.” He swallowed, and then plowed on, “Then, after some time of this, we were to graduate. We were given time off to go back to our little town and celebrate with our families. And then…and then…on the night I returned to my home, late in the evening when I should have been asleep, I awoke and overheard…overheard my parents talking of rebellion. Of an uprising against the King. And I…and I knew what I needed to do.”

“Caleb…”

“I know. And I was so sure, I was so _sure_ I was doing the right thing, I stood by as my friends stabbed their own families and poisoned their own families and then when it was my turn I pushed a wagon against our house, where I had lived and laughed and loved for _years_ , and set it on fire.”

“…Caleb…”

“And then I heard my parents screaming. And I couldn’t do it anymore. I…I went mad. I was taken to an asylum and I was there for years. I do not even know for how long. It was only until I met a woman with…with healing magics, I suppose, who cured me. It was like the sun breaking through clouds. The madness faded, as well as…as well as the fake memories.”

“ _Fake_ memories,” Molly echoed.

Caleb gave him a sad smile. “Magic is a very dangerous thing, Mollymauk. I know this. I knew it, too, but I didn’t realize how dangerous until the house was on fire and I was a murderer of my own family.”

Molly gazed back at him. “It wasn’t your fault,” he said.

“It was,” Caleb said, “even if the memories were fake. I still wanted to do it—”

“You were _brainwashed_ —”

“—but I still cast the spell, I still _killed_ them—”

“ _No_ ,” said Molly, “that _man_ killed them, in the sickest, most despicable way possible. You were just the damn tool. It wasn’t your fault.”

Caleb looked down at his hands. “Nott said something along those lines as well. She seems convinced that I am not to blame.”

“You _aren’t_ ,” said Molly. “She’s right. And you can damn well be sure we’ll both keep telling you that until you believe us.”

Caleb took a deep breath. He stared at the bedsheets and picked at his sleeves. “I…I do not want you to think I am just a simple coward stumbling his way through the world,” he sighed. “That part _is_ true, but it has not always been all that I was. I…I have done many despicable things. My past is drenched with blood, or…or would have been if charred corpses and piles of ash could bleed. And…and perhaps I was just doing what I was told to do, but I still did it. Perhaps I knew something was wrong about…about…killing my parents, but I still _did_ it. I am still responsible for every life I took and every life I left behind broken and burned. I…I wanted you to know that, and to understand that when you are making your final judgement of me. I have not been a good person, Mollymauk Tealeaf.”

Molly reached over and put a gentle hand under Caleb’s chin. He carefully guided the wizard’s face towards his, and two pupil-less, ruby eyes met a pair of clear blue ones, widened with surprise. 

“It doesn’t matter what you’ve done,” Molly said softly. “I don’t care about the past. I know it shapes most people more than it does for me, but those echoes and those actions don’t _matter_. What matters is who you are _now_. As far as I know, you are not a coward. You are not stumbling. You are a brilliant fighter with and without fire, and as far as I am concerned, all you have done so far is protect yourself, and protect your friends. From what I’ve seen, you’ve only hurt people that hurt you first. I have made my judgement of you already, Caleb Widogast, and I…”

His heart pounded. Caleb’s face had turned bright red, and Molly could feel the other man’s pulse racing.

“I…I…”

…he couldn’t do it. After all that? He couldn’t. 

Slowly, Molly pulled away and dropped his hand onto the sheets. “I care a great deal about you,” he said instead. “I admire your skills, I value your friendship, and I believe in your second start.”

He stood up and dusted off his coat. “After all, you believed in mine.”

Caleb blinked in surprise, then nodded slowly. “Of course.”

“Let’s go down for some breakfast now, alright?” Molly suggested, chest aching. “Hopefully Nott saved us some sausages.”

\----------------------

“There are no more,” said Nott. “Jester ate all of them.”

“That is _not_ true.”

Fjord sighed and tried to draw the group’s focus back. “So, we’re agreed, then? Only cantrips if you can help it. We’ve got a ton of healing potions now too, so that should be able to save Jester for more offensive spells.”

“Yeah, yeah, but I’m still on standby to heal in case something super bad happens,” she said, waving her hand.

“Alright, then,” he nodded. “We should head over soon to the King’s Hall. Does everybody want to come?”

“I might be better staying here and preparing spells,” Caleb said.

Jester, Nott, and Beau all looked pointedly at Molly.

He sighed. His brain was still a mess, but he managed to pull through. “I’ll hang around here too,” he said. “I can…I can…I’ll keep Caleb company.”

“I want to go to a blacksmith,” said Nott. “To get more crossbow bolts.”

“I’ll come with you,” said Beau. “There’s always more ball bearings to be bought.”

“Alright, so it’s me, Jester, and Yasha then,” said Fjord. 

“Berry,” said Yasha.

They all looked at her.

“Excuse me?”

“Last time we took a job from there, I gave my name as Berry,” she explained coolly. “Our faces are not common ones, so I should give the same name in case they remember.”

“Damn,” said Fjord. “I forgot about that.”

“I think I just said my name was Beau,” said Beau. 

“I think I might also have given my name as Bo,” said Fjord. 

“I was Shirley,” said Jester.

“I was Temple,” added Nott.

They looked at Caleb and Molly. 

“…Esma?” tried Molly. “I remember something about that.”

“I was not present for this,” said Caleb. “You could just give any name.”

“Reginald,” said Jester, and he shrugged.

“That works.”

“Okay,” said Fjord, “Now that that’s settled, is everybody ready to go?”

“Wait,” said Nott, and pulled a sausage out of her pouch. She handed it to Caleb. “Here you go, Reginald, I forgot I saved you one.”

And then the respective groups moved out, leaving Molly doubled over in laughter at the table and pounding his fist against the wood. Caleb sighed, holding a single, lint-covered sausage in his hands.

“Frumpkin,” he called, “come eat this.”

\----------------------

“Here you are,” said Herald Voloshin. “Present it to the guard stationed at the sewer entrance, and they will let you in. Same as before.”

“Thank you, sir,” said Fjord. “We’ll be back soon with results.”

“Good,” said the dwarf, spinning around and walking back to his office. “You are dismissed.”

“I do not like him,” said Yasha, after he had left.

“Me neither,” said Jester.

“But do you think it was wise of you to stick a ‘kick me’ sign onto his back?” Fjord asked.

“Nobody noticed,” Jester said defensively, “and even if they did, nobody cared.”

“Maybe we should get going now,” he sighed, “just in case.” 

\----------------------

Nott poked her head into the small satchel. “I’ve never had this much ammo before,” she said in an almost dreamy voice.

“Good,” said Beau, “we’re going to need it tonight.”

“Is that why you bought four thousand ball bearings?” 

“Yep.”

“Isn’t that heavy?”

“Actually, not really. These things are pretty light.”

\----------------------

“You know, I really _do_ appreciate you telling me your big secret,” said Molly as he watched Caleb double-check his spell components. 

“I am glad for that,” said Caleb. He carefully slid soot and salt into a small pouch in his hands.

“I’m still sorry I haven’t told you mine,” said Molly.

Caleb looked up. He had a soft expression on his face. “There’s no need for apologizing,” he said. “It is yours to tell and yours to give away. There is nothing wrong with waiting.”

“I just…I just _really_ want to tell you. But I can’t. I promise, I want nothing more than to tell you.”

“Would it be easier for you to just say it again in Infernal?” Caleb asked.

“It would be easiest if I could just say it in Common,” Molly sighed. “But maybe I’ll take you up on that offer at some point.”

“It is nice to hear,” said Caleb. “As I said before, it reminds me of Zemnian. Which nobody speaks around here.”

“ _Well, you just have to ask for it, and I’ll tell you everything you want to hear_ ,” Molly winked, and Caleb smiled, though did not understand.

\----------------------

“—and, unfortunately, a few of my men _did_ disappear during the last two full moons, carrying important cargo. So, if you encounter them in your…expedition, please do recover their possessions for me.”

“Should…should we bring their bodies back too?” Nott asked.

“If you so choose,” said the Gentleman, “though they are not of high priority, by any means.”

There was a brief silence following that remark.

“Well,” and now he leaned in and laced his fingers together, “if there are no more questions, sundown will be in about an hour. Kara and Dweez are ready to escort you down whenever you are ready.”

“Thank you,” said Fjord, “I believe we are?” and he looked around at the rest of the group. 

“Let’s get it on,” said Beau, and stood up.

“Excellent,” said the Gentleman. “Enjoy your time down there, and good luck, Mighty Nein.”

He gave them a slight wave as they were guided through a back door and down a flight of wooden stairs. 

“Blindfolds,” said Kara, and passed them out. “You all know the drill.”

Slinking in the shadows behind them, Frumpkin’s eyes turned milky-white and gave off the faintest glow. 

They walked slowly, the two members of the Gentleman’s troupe taking care not to let any of the Nein wander off. 

“Do you know anything else about what’s down there?” Beau asked.

“Nothing that the Gentleman hasn’t already told you,” Kara sighed. “Just strange lights, weird sounds, the occasional awful smell once. Everybody we sent there to investigate didn’t come back.”

“Great,” said Beau.

“Don’t worry,” said Kara. “You lot are much better equipped to deal with this sort of thing than smugglers. You should be fine.”

“ _Should_ be fine,” Nott mumbled, and reached for her flask. Dweez snickered.

After about half an hour of weaving through carved-out tunnels and passing by strange, glowing fungal growths, and skittering underground creatures that only Caleb/Frumpkin saw, they reached their destination.

“You can take them off now,” said Kara. “We’re here.”

They removed their blindfolds and stared up at a large break in the cavern wall. It was blocked off by a sturdy iron fence that Dweez scuttled over to and unlocked. Past the metal bars, the wind whistled and a slow stream of liquid trickled over the rocky ground.

“This part leads into the western sewage systems of Zadash,” said Kara. “We’ll both be here if—when you come back, tomorrow morning. We’ll return to the Nip at noon, so make sure you get back before then. Good luck,” she said, and gestured for them to walk on.

“Thank you,” said Fjord. “We’ll be back.”

Then they all stepped through the gate. Dweez swung it shut behind them with a maddened giggle, and he and Kara turned back to their waiting positions, leaving the Nein standing in the darkened face of a seemingly endless, cold, subterranean labyrinth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew! Another one finished, and now the Gang is finally down in the sewers! Thank you so so much for reading! This update came up pretty quick, but I do wanna let y'all know that it might take me a liiiiittle bit longer to churn out the next one (final exams, all that jazz) especially since, guys, it's gonna be INTENSE
> 
> In the meanwhile, please let me know what you think! Comments and Kudos keep me going, and if you wanna ask any questions hit me up here or [@sockablock](https://www.sockablock.tumblr.com) on tumblr!


	8. Souls in the Darkness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shit gets crazy

For a moment, the only sound came from the crawling river of silt below them, and the faintest squeaks of subterranean critters. Then Fjord nodded decisively and turned to the team.

“Alright, everyone,” he said. “Five hundred feet ahead of us is a crossroads. We’ll walk up there and use that as our rendezvous point. Sound good?” 

They nodded.

“Caleb, want to give us some light?”

Four dancing globules of glowing arcana drifted into the air around them.

“Let’s go.”

Their boots sank slightly into the wet dirt, softened by the flow of water and other things that none of them—except possibly Nott—wanted to think about. Caleb’s lights, hovering by their heads, illuminated layers of moss creeping around the tunnel walls and suspended on the ceilings. Despite the faintest breeze curling past their faces, the air felt stale, unused to visitors and unfriendly to trespassers. Every once in a while, a shadow above them would shift slightly as they approached, but nothing ever swooped down in ambush or leapt out to attack.

As they walked forwards, Nott pulled on Molly’s coat and the two of them fell back.

“Yes?” he asked once the others had passed.

“You’re going to keep Caleb safe, right?” she whispered.

He snorted. “Of course. It's what I'm for."

She shook her head urgently. “Promise me.”

Molly rolled his eyes, but at Nott’s unrelenting frown he sighed. “Alright, alright, I promise,” he said. “I promise I’ll keep him safe.”

She nodded. “Good. I don’t want him to get hurt.”

“Neither do I,” he sighed. “Neither do I.”

Soon, they reached the larger hollowed-out chamber, a central point in the sewer system with old and fading brick lining the walls. Three large archways opened before them, all leading in different directions. 

Caleb lowered his hands, and the dancing lights drew in towards him and Molly. “From now on I will not be able to provide the rest of you light,” he said. “Will you be alright?”

“We’ve got darkvision,” said four people at once. Beau held up her goggles sheepishly.

“And I’ve got torches,” added Yasha. 

Caleb sighed, but there was a faint smile on his face. “That is good, then.” 

“What time is it now?” Fjord asked.

He looked off into the distance for a moment. “Sundown is in twelve minutes,” he announced. 

Fjord nodded. “Alright, gang. Let’s spread out, and in an hour, we’ll all come back here.”

“Be safe, everybody,” said Jester, uncharacteristically soft.

“We will,” Molly reassured.

“We got this,” Beau added. 

And then the teams split off, with Caleb and Molly heading north.

\----------------------

“I am somewhat worried about those two,” Yasha said. “Mollymauk is an excellent fighter, and can damage his opponents significantly in close-up combat, but he is also rather fragile. And he cannot be in two places at once, which will always leave Caleb undefended from one front.”

Nott groaned and reached for her flask. “Oh, why would you say that?” she asked. “Why would you tell me that?”

Yasha blinked. “I am just thinking through the strategy. It was still the best arrangement, given the circumstances.” 

“The best arrangement would be us all aboveground, not doing this crazy mission, all going to live,” Nott muttered.

“Unless the big baddie invaded aboveground, then we would live but only for a little longer,” Jester supplied.

Nott considered this. Then she took a swig from her flask. 

“Yasha, how long has it been, now?” Jester asked. “Is stuff going to appear soon?”

“A couple more minutes,” Yasha responded. “And it depends on whether or not we are moving in the right direction.”

\----------------------

“But when you smile, it shouldn’t be strained. Just…just relax all of your muscles and try again.”

As they moved slowly against the trickling sewer-water, Beau tried to school her expression into one of tranquil peace. 

“You look like you’re gonna kill someone.”

She scowled. “Look, Fjord, it’s just not going to work for me. I’m not some happy-go-lucky fucking sunshine and rainbows kind of person.”

Fjord sighed. “I know, I know. But it’s just…it would be a lot easier when you deal with folks if you just put on a pleasant face and sound genuine.”

“It’s just not how I am. I can’t fake happiness, and most people just piss me off. Let’s just talk about something else.”

“Er…alright, um…here, why don’t you try and teach me to speak Halfling?”

\----------------------

Their tunnel opened out into a small chamber. The river of unidentified substances continued to run down the center, though unlike before, where the ground had been mostly eroding stonework, here the chamber floor was muddy earth.

“You are very quiet,” Caleb remarked as they walked on. “Is there something on your mind?”

Molly shrugged. “Not really.”

“You are certain about this?”

“Yeah.”

“Mollymauk, you are giving me monosyllabic answers. This is extremely uncharacteristic of you.”

“You’re talking a lot more,” said Molly defensively, “that’s pretty uncharacteristic of _you_.”

They both stopped walking. Condensation dripped from the ceiling and tapped faintly against the muddy floors in the silence. 

“I’m sorry,” said Molly. “I didn’t mean it. I’m just a bit on edge. All of the ridiculous buildup this last week has been getting at me, I think.”

Caleb nodded. “I understand. I admit I do not like this either. I wish we had more information as to what we are about to face.”

“It’s not just that,” Molly said in a strained voice, “but sewer monsters do weigh in rather heavily at the moment.”

“Is it something you wish to talk about?”

“Maybe later. Although, with all this talk of crazy things happening and people dying, I’ll admit that part of me is worried I’ll never get to say what I want to.”

“You mean…you mean the big secret?”

Molly sighed. “Yes.” 

“I see.”

“It’s just…I just want to tell you so badly.”

Caleb gave Molly a friendly pat on the shoulder. “It is alright,” he said. “You don’t need to rush it. We will get rid of whatever this thing down here is, and then you can tell me when you are ready.”

Molly smiled. “Thank you, Caleb. I just hate how much of a coward I’m being about this,” he said, and kicked at the muddy earth. “I mean, I spilled my entire backstory to you lot after knowing you all for less than two weeks. I should be able to admit this in a language we can both understand.”

Caleb shrugged. “Just say the word,” he said. “And I’ll do whatever I can to help.”

“I appreci—”

Molly looked at the ground his boot had unearthed. “Oh, _fuck_!” 

Caleb followed his companion’s gaze downwards. He instantly grabbed Molly by the hand and yanked him backwards. 

“ _Scheisse_ ,” he said, and fought his heartbeat back down. “Is that what I think it is?” 

They stared at the tiny patch of dirt in front of them. Just visible above the ground was the tip of a finger, poking towards the sky. 

“Yes, and I hate it,” said Molly. “Fuck,” he added for good measure.

“It is green,” said Caleb. “Though that might just be the lighting.”

“I don’t think we should fuck with it,” said Molly. And then he had a terrible thought. “Do you think…do you think there are more around here?”

Caleb looked at his cat, who had trailed them into the chamber and was yawning in a corner. 

“Frumpkin is small and good at finding things. He may have a better chance at uncovering more without disturbing them.”

“Seeing as how I kicked that one into existence, I don’t think we should worry _too_ much,” Molly reasoned. “But we should probably try to avoid skin contact. For hygiene’s sake if anything.”

Caleb took this as a yes, and nodded at Frumpkin. The tabby began pacing through the chamber. Every once in a while, he would paw at the ground before moving on.

He uncovered six more fingers, all sticking upwards.

“This is bloody awful,” said Molly.

“It is eerie,” said Caleb. “I do not like the looks of this.”

“Really?”

Caleb sighed. “You know what I mean.”

“I’m just teasing, dear.”

“Do you think there’s…more than just fingers buried here?”

“What, you mean like toes or—”

“Please, Mollymauk.”

There was a pause. “I’m not sure. I honestly don’t know what’s worse, the idea that there are… _full_ bodies down here, or some lunatic planted disembodied fingers into the ground like terrible, fleshy saplings.”

“Thank you for your colorful description.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Should we turn back?”

Molly thought about this. “How long as it been?”

“About exactly twenty-five minutes since we split off.”

“About exactly?”

“Yes.”

Despite the current situation, Molly cracked a grin. “We can go on for about exactly twenty or so more before heading back. We’re trying to cover as much ground as possible, right? And even if we went back we’d have to wait around for the others too. As long as we’re careful, I think we should be fine.”

“Alright. I will defer to you in this.”

They gave the unearthed fingers a clear berth as they moved through the area and towards the tunnel archway that led further down into the sewer system.

“Hopefully the others are having just as fun of a time as we are,” Molly sighed. “Although I’m not sure how anything can top this.”

\----------------------

“ _J’harka_.”

“No, no, _j’harka_.” 

“ _J’harka_.”

“Sort of. It was better that time, anyways,” sighed Beau. 

“I’ve never spoken Halfling before,” Fjord shrugged. “I thought I was doing alright.”

“You were. That was a compliment.”

“…I think we should switch gears back to manners training.”

Beau groaned and opened her mouth to protest. But before she could say a word, Fjord suddenly held out a hand and said, softly, “Wait. Look at that.”

Beau followed his gaze towards the left side of the tunnel, a few inches above where the ground met the wall. Poking out against the faded reds and browns of the bricks was a little carving, so small it could almost have been missed completely, except for the soft, grey light it emitted. 

“I’m gonna go look at it,” said Beau, and before Fjord could say anything about caution she darted over to investigate. Sighing, he trailed after her.

They crouched down in front of it.

It was a tiny circle, with a sharp, jagged symbol in the middle. Seven small hashes lined the outside of the drawing, each ending in a small dot. 

“It looks arcane,” said Beau, “but that’s all I’ve got.”

Something nagged at the back of Fjord’s mind. “It seems like something I should know,” he said, “I just can’t quite put my finger on it.”

He leaned in closer. Suddenly his vision flooded with images that felt alien and familiar all at once, of strange and ancient groups of robed figures standing around cold stone altars, cutting into flesh and removing hearts, of people who could reach into a body and pull out the soul, of individuals who rose to tremendous, eternal power and descended into madness all at the same time and—

Fjord gasped for air, and the visions stopped. 

Beau was shaking him by the shoulders. “What’s wrong?” Panic lined the edges of her tone. “You good, Fjord? Hello? Exandria to Fjord—”

He nodded and put up a hand. “I-I’m alright,” he said. “I just think…I think I’ve seen something like this before. It’s dark magic,” he said. “Not something we wanna fuck with.”

“Hold on,” said Beau, “back up, you’ve seen this before?”

Fjord’s mind raced. “Well, not really…it’s sort of like how sometimes I just get impressions of things. Like with the Crawling King. I’m not sure how I know it, I just _do_.”

“Is this related to the saltwater stuff?” Beau asked with a raised eyebrow.

“…yeah.”

“Alright then,” she nodded, standing up and dusting herself off, “in that case I won’t ask. You say it’s bad shit, should we keep on going?”

Fjord thought for a moment. “I…I think we should. It’s not doing anything right now, and we’ve still got some ground to cover before we go back. As long as we’re careful, it should be alright.”

\----------------------

“—and then my mother hit him with a candlestick, and he stopped squirming.”

Yasha looked impressed. “She managed to kill him with just a candlestick?”

Jester shrugged. “Rich people usually aren’t all that sturdy. And, you know, I was watching through the keyhole so I am not sure if he actually died or not. But he didn’t come back ever.”

Nott nodded. “That makes sense,” she said, “but why would a rich person be trying to steal your things?”

“Mother has a _lot_ of nice things,” Jester said, “and she never sells any of it or gives it to anybody.”

Nott considered this point. “I would probably try to steal from her,” she agreed, and then her large yellow eyes scanned the room in case there was anything to steal here. 

“Did this sort of thing happen often?” Yasha asked.

“Not really,” said Jester. “But when it did, Mother always took care of it right away.”

“Your mother sounds like a strong woman,” said Yasha.

“Guys?” Nott called. 

“Oh, she is!” Jester said excitedly. “She is very strong, and very beautiful.”

“And takes no shit,” Yasha said approvingly.

“Guys?”

Jester giggled. “Oh, no, a lady does not—”

“Guys!?” Nott yelled, and they looked down at her.

“What’s that thing over there?”

Yasha and Jester looked at where Nott was pointing. Etched into the wall, a few inches off the ground, was a small, glowing symbol of some sort.

They moved closer to investigate.

“It is probably magical,” said Jester.

“I agree,” said Yasha. “Do you know anything else about it?” 

“Nope.”

Nott sighed. “I wish Caleb were here,” she said. 

“Should we keep going?” Jester asked.

“Yes,” said Yasha. “It is not actively attacking us, which is what Fjord wanted to watch out for, and we still have more ground to move across. We should continue on.”

“I wonder what it is,” Jester mused as they walked.

“Caleb would know,” Nott said.

“Yeah,” Jester said testily, “but he probably wouldn’t even _tell_ us.”

\----------------------

At the next larger area, the tunnel widened again. Before walking through the arched entrance, Caleb held out a hand to stop Molly, and used the other to gesture Frumpkin to scout ahead.

As the cat dug through the wet dirt—more like a dog than a self-respecting feline—Molly took a moment to think.

“What do you suppose all the fingers were for?” he asked.

Caleb shook his head. “I can think of a few ideas, but I do not like any of them.”

“Try me.”

“Well…it could have been some sort of old burial place? Except that, though I do not know much of the rites of Zadash, I would not expect grieving family members to use fingers as grave markers.”

“Plus we’re in a sewer,” said Molly. “And even if this used to be part of the aboveground, those fingers still have flesh on ‘em. Terrible, really smelly flesh, but still. They’re new-ish.”

“Agreed,” said Caleb. “The idea that I do not like is that we were right about the undead, and someone buried those bodies there for later.”

In the silence that followed, Frumpkin meowed and sat down in the middle of the chamber.

Seven more fingers had been uncovered. 

“Now I really don’t want to walk ahead,” sighed Molly.

“Oh? We should head back?”

“No, no, I just meant that as…as a general complaint. We can keep going, same as before, just…carefully. It was fine last time, it should be fine again.”

“I trust you in this.”

Molly felt slightly sick. “Of course. I’m very trustworthy,” he said. “Let’s keep going.”

\----------------------

“Look,” said Fjord, pointing back at the wall. “There’s another symbol-thing.”

“What the hell _are_ they?” Beau grumbled. “I don’t like ‘em.”

“It must have taken forever to walk down the halls and engrave so many,” Fjord mused.

\----------------------

“Didn’t the Gentleman say this stuff’s been going on for a long time, though?” Nott asked. “Like, _months_ at least.”

“That is true,” agreed Yasha. “They only recently noticed, but who can say how long…whatever is doing this…has been doing it for.” 

“This is creepy,” Jester mumbled, and the other two nodded.

\----------------------

“Now, _this_ is a puzzle,” said Mollymauk, bending down to inspect the sigils.

Their tunnel had come to an abrupt end, with nothing but chipped and mossy brick before them. There were a number of fingers here too, and they had almost turned around to go back until Molly had noticed a weird row of engravings, faintly glowing grey, stretched along the bottom of the far wall. 

“Be careful,” said Caleb. “We do not know what those are.”

“Well, come over here, magic man, and give them a good look.”

Caleb sighed and walked over, squatting next to the tiefling to get a better angle.

\----------------------

“—and then _I_ said—”

“Wait,” Fjord blinked, and Beau went quiet. “Do you hear that?”

\----------------------

“Nope,” Jester shrugged. “Are you sure you heard something?”

Nott’s large ears flicked up and down. “I could have sworn I did,” she said. “It was so quiet, but it was there.”

\----------------------

“They are arcane for sure,” Caleb said. “Give me a minute. I believe I can tell you what they do.”

“Sure,” said Molly, leaning back and looking at the rest of the markings. Then he blinked. “Hey, are these things glowing brighter?”

\----------------------

Beau’s grip on her staff tightened, and she looked around. She strained her ears. “I got nothing.”

Fjord frowned. “It’s like…it’s like something’s talking. But…but from far away.”

And as he went quiet again, Beau could hear something now, something just on the edge of the silence: a strange, murmuring whisper tickling at the back of her mind.

\----------------------

“I can hear it!” Jester said, “I can hear it…it…what is it?”

Yasha drew her sword in one, fluid motion. “I do not know,” she said, "but I do not like this. Be ready.”

\----------------------

Caleb, immersed now in seeking out knowledge, leaned in closer. “It’s…it’s some kind of warding,” he said.

“Caleb, are you listening to me?”

“They are so strange. Almost…almost an amalgam of magics. This symbol here, this indicates offense, so evocation. But this one here is abjuration, like protection, and this one is—”

\----------------------

The noise swelled, growing from an almost inaudible sensation to a yelling that flooded Beau’s ears with a language she could never hope to understand.

“What’s happening?! What’s going on?!”

\----------------------

“What are they saying?!” Jester cried. “What are they saying?!”

“I don’t know!” Nott shouted, eyes wide with panic. “I don’t know!”

“Block your ears!” Yasha yelled over the deafening noise, “Block your ears, block your—”

\----------------------

”—necromancy.”

\----------------------

The shouting burst into piercing screams that raked across their ears with searing, burning pain. And before anybody could react, on either team in the south or the east, a black wave of dark, unholy force came careening down their tunnels, rocketing into their bodies with a terrible blast, followed by a harsh wind that swallowed the light from their torches and—for a horrifying moment—stilled the air in their lungs. There were dull thuds as all of them, caught completely unawares, were launched backwards and onto the ground in the darkness.

\----------------------

Silence. Then:

“Nott, Jester, are you both alive?”

“I am alive.”

There was a hacking cough and a moan.

“Nott is alive too, but she does not sound very good.”

“I’m fine,” mumbled Nott. “The stupid wind just threw me against the wall.”

“What was that?” came Yasha’s voice. “It felt… _dark_.”

“It is very dark right now,” said Jester.

“What? Oh, here.”

Their torch flared as Yasha struck it back to life.

“Do either of you know what happened?” she asked again.

“No,” said Jester. “But it…it hurt. I feel…sort of drained?”

“Me too,” said Nott miserably. “Caleb would know what it was.”

“Perhaps we should head back,” said Yasha. 

Nott nodded. “I don’t want to go on without the others anymore.”

“I want to make sure they are okay,” Jester added.

\----------------------

“Thanks,” said Fjord, and grimaced as Beau helped pull him up.

“You alright there?”

“Yeah, but—”

He broke off as a cough erupted from his throat. In the near darkness, something other than spit hit his tongue.

“Fuck, are you coughing up blood?” Beau asked.

“Yeah, it-it’s just a bit. Whatever that was did not agree with me. But I’m okay now, I think. How are you doin’ there?”

“I feel terrible, but I can keep on going,” said Beau.

“Good,” he said, “because I think we should head back right now.”

“I think you’re right, Fjord, and I think we should hurry.”

\----------------------

“That’s odd,” said Molly. “They stopped glowing.”

“ _Was_?”

“The symbols over here, they were glowing before. For a smart man you’re not always that observant.”

Caleb stood up and stretched out his back for a moment. “Sorry,” he said. “I was trying to work out what sort of glyphs these were. Near as I can tell, these here, along the bottom, they are a sort of protection for whatever lies beyond this chamber.

“Why does that make me want to get in even more?” Molly asked cheekily. “Is there any way for us to get through?”

Caleb smiled softly in return. “Luckily, as long as Yasha has not used that feature of her sword yet, we should be able to dispel at least that portion of the sigils. And then it is a matter of putting enough force against this wall to blast through.”

Molly nodded. “That sounds like a plan.”

Caleb shot another glance at the etchings, and rubbed his chin. “The other symbols, however, are…different. They are like, like an attack of some kind, though their exact nature I do not understand. This seems to be a sort of arcane source, that is charged up here and able to be used again. The effects themselves are felt...felt elsewhere.”

“Elsewhere,” said Molly flatly. 

“We need to return to the others,” said Caleb. “Now.”

“I agree,” said Molly. “I hope—”

A soft voice tickled at the back of their minds.

 _Ah. Intruders._

They instantly whipped around, ready for battle and standing back-to-back. In a second, Molly had his scimitars out and radiant. The Dancing Lights vanished as fire ignited around Caleb’s fingers. Frumpkin’s tail bristled.

“Who said that?!” Molly called. “Show yourself! There will be no mercy for cowards!”

“Mollymauk,” Caleb hissed, “we cannot fight this alone. We must be patient, and return to the others.”

“I don’t know if we’ll be able to,” Molly whispered back, “what if—"

 _I see_ , came the voice again. _Unfortunately, I do not have time for this. I am too close. Deal with them._

Suddenly, the chamber began to shake. Dirt and dust streamed down from the breaks in the cavern above them and on far side of the room, the entire ceiling caved in. An avalanche of brick and rock and mud slammed down over the tunnel entrance to the rest of the sewers. All three of them were showered with a rain of gravel and small pebbles and Frumpkin was hit by a falling rock that then tumbled onto the ground next to a strangled yelp and a wisp of smoke. Caleb and Molly desperately wove around the dropping stones, ducking and weaving until they ended up in the center of the chamber, and the rumbling stopped. 

In the dust-filled silence, they stared at their exit, now completely covered by a mountain of brick and rubble.

“ _Fuck_ ,” said Mollymauk, and swept at the cloud of dust around him. “Fuck, we’re trapped down here, now, _fuck_.” His breathing was beginning to quicken.

“Mollymauk?”

“ _Fuck_!” He yelled, and with every shallow inhale, more and more dust poured into his lungs. He started coughing and doubled over, dropping his scimitars and clutching at his chest.

“Mollymauk!” Caleb yelled, and bent over as well. “Mollymauk, look at me, it will be alright! We can get out of here, it will be alright! I have a plan! Nod if you understand!”

Molly, still struggling to breathe, gave the briefest nod. It was enough. Caleb tried to rub circles on Molly’s back as he used his other hand to steady the trembling tiefling. “Listen to me, look at me, focus on me! We will be alright! I have not used any spells yet, I can summon my cat’s paw and have it move the blockage! We are not trapped! You can feel the air moving around you, _ja_?”

Molly gave another quick nod. 

“Look, look, there is no darkness,” and new Dancing Lights appeared around Molly’s head. “You are standing up, there is air all around you—admittedly dusty—but still free air! I am here! You can feel my hand on your back, I am holding your shoulder, you can hear my voice, Mollymauk you are _not_ alone in this! I am here, Mollymauk, I am _here_!”

And then one of the fingers in the ground twitched.

\----------------------

“What the absolute fuck is that?” Beau asked.

Fjord, falchion in hand, took a defensive stance next to her. “I have no idea,” he said. “But I don’t like it.” 

“Gee, really, you don’t like fun creepy balls light?”

Fjord sighed. “Can we please not do sarcasm right now?”

“Sorry,” said Beau. “Hey, they’re getting closer, that’s cool, right?”

The two of them watched as a row of small, glowing orbs drifted closer from down the passageway they had just run through. Each sphere radiated a pale white light, and ranged from being as small as a grape to as large as an apple. Fjord watched them approach warily, weapon at the ready and anticipating the worst.

And then the lights simply moved over their heads and continued down the tunnel.

“What the fuck,” said Beau again, for good measure.

“They…maybe they aren’t dangerous?” Fjord suggested.

“Yeah, but they’re super fucking weird,” said Beau. “And I don’t like not knowing what they are.” 

A couple more spheres rounded the corner and moved towards them. Before Fjord could stop her, Beau raised her bo staff and poked the largest one with the end. It seemed to give a slight resistance for a moment, but then passed through the staff and continued floating in its parade away from them.

“What did it feel like?” Fjord asked, curiosity overwhelming his exasperation. 

“I dunno,” said Beau speculatively. “I definitely felt it for a second, but it was barely there. Like hitting the mist if mist was just a bit sturdier.”

“Let’s hurry,” said Fjord. “We can see if the others experienced any of this or if they know anything.”

\----------------------

“Jester, please stop,” said Nott, “you’re making me nervous.”

“But they are so cute,” said Jester, “and they don’t hurt. They feel a little bit warm.”

“I agree with Nott, here,” said Yasha. “Stop poking the weird lights and let’s go.”

Jester reluctantly obliged, but continued to wave goodbye as they walked past the slow procession of orbs. 

“What do you think they are?” Nott asked. 

“I am not so sure,” said Yasha. “But I have a thought.”

“Don’t waste it,” said Nott, “what are they?”

“I think…I think they might be souls.”

“What!?” Jester frantically wiped her hands on her dress. “You think I was poking _souls_?”

“Yes,” said Yasha. “So I am glad you stopped.”

“But why are they just floating around?” Nott asked. “Why aren’t they…y’know…inside bodies or something?”

“I do not know,” said Yasha. “But they appeared after that wave of energy. We survived, but perhaps the owners of those souls did not.”

There was silence for a moment. Nott reached for her flask.

“We need to move faster,” said Yasha. “And drink a healing potion if you are feeling low. There could be another wave coming.”

\----------------------

Caleb picked up a scimitar and fought to control his own rapid heartbeat as he tried to help Molly through the panic. All around them now, from around the six visible fingers, _movement_ began churning under the earth. Dirt flew into the air, and then a fingertip became a knuckle bone and then another finger and then the beginnings of a hand, slowly threading upwards and out of the ground. Without even realizing, Caleb and Molly had stumbled into the middle of six trembling graves.

“Please, Mollymauk,” Caleb begged, “Please, I cannot defend us by myself. Please, I need you.”

“O-okay,” breathed Molly, voice ragged, “okay, pass me a sword, pass me a sword, Caleb.”

The tiefling’s hand closed around the hilt of his blade, cheap carnival glass made hard by years at his side, fed the blood of his foes and countless times his own. He reached for the other scimitar and drew it across his arm, letting radiant light spill forth again. 

A fist burst out of the ground, coated in dirt. Rotting flesh hung off the bone like loose clothing. On the other side of the ring, another hand crawled towards the sky. 

The Dancing Lights went out. Caleb’s hands caught fire. Molly steadied himself. 

When the first head exploded upwards, dead eye sockets and missing teeth just visible through the visor of a rusted metal helmet, Molly leapt forwards and took a swipe. The head flew across the room but the body followed, dripping dirt like earthen blood, dressed in chainmail and armed with a sword of its own. Five other bodies erupted out of the ground and lurched towards them in a ring, and Caleb pressed his back against Molly’s and pushed his hands together and sent out a fifteen-foot cone of blazing fire that set the undead warriors aflame. But they continued moving forwards, closing in.

Molly managed to weave around the swing of the headless zombie in front of him, and used the momentum to duck out of the circle and give Caleb more room to back up. The other creatures advanced closer to the wizard, who scrambled backwards to stay out of melee range as they swiped effortlessly at his retreat. Molly swung again at the headless creature, but his scimitar caught against the chain armor. But then his other hand followed with a second strike, which managed to sever the zombie’s in half at the waist. Its legs collapsed, and its torso stopped moving. 

Caleb, meanwhile, had sent out another wave of fire that managed to incinerate the undead directly in front of him, but left three still closing in, weapons drawn and moaning. In the dim light from Molly’s swords and Caleb’s fires, the metal gleamed with a sickly sheen. 

Molly kicked away the remnants of the first zombie, and with a reassuring glance, twirled Caleb behind him so the wizard could get out of melee. Caleb gratefully scrambled back and pulled a diamond out of his pouch, spinning it between his bandaged fingers. As Molly cut into the shambling corpses, streaks of lightning arched around him, briefly illuminating the darkened chamber before striking against rotting flesh. 

Soon, the last zombie was cut down. Molly lowered his swords and caught his breath. Behind him, Caleb sighed and put his diamond away.

Molly turned to face the wizard. “Are you injured?” he asked.

“I am fine,” Caleb said. “How are you?”

“Physically, fabulous. Mentally, I’ll be much better once we get out of here. What was your plan, again?” 

“Right,” he nodded. “I am going to cast Maximilian's—”

There was a wet, sickening sound as the tip of a spear sprouted out from the middle of Caleb’s chest. He and Molly stared at it for a long, terrible second, their eyes wide with shock. Then Caleb crumpled to the ground. A seventh undead body stood right behind him, had emerged unnoticed after the others.

Molly’s mind went blank. Somewhere, his grip tightened around the scimitars. Somewhere, his throat let out a mangled scream. Somewhere, his muscles launched themselves at the creature and somewhere, both wrists extended as he slashed and carved at the horrible, ungodly, _vile, unsightly aberration_ that had just struck down his wizard. 

As soon as its lacerated form fell, Molly dropped his swords and collapsed onto his knees by Caleb’s body. Dust and dirt swirled around them, remnants from the rock collapse and the bursts of undead and the frenzied storm that had been Mollymauk, moments ago. 

“Caleb,” he whispered, “Caleb, are you alive?”

The divine light had gone out, now, and there was no more fire. Even with Darkvision, Molly could barely see the body stir slightly.

“I am-I am alive,” Caleb whispered back. “There is something in my chest.”

Molly almost started laughing. Instead, his hands shook as they pulled a healing potion from his pouch, and then another, and another, and another. “I’m going to move your head,” he said, “It might hurt, it might hurt, but I’m going to heal you.”

“Okay,” Caleb said weakly. “That would be nice.”

Molly trembled as he slowly pulled Caleb into his lap, lying him on his side so the spear couldn’t continue to press into him. Caleb winced with every movement, but did not fight. Molly nudged a potion against the wizard’s mouth.

The glimmering red liquid slipped between Caleb’s lips. 

Then he started coughing, violently. Each spasm sent a wave of pain coursing through his body but for some reason, he could barely feel it. 

“Did-did it work?” Molly asked. “Caleb, how do you feel?”

“Shitty,” muttered Caleb. “Numb.”

Molly pushed another one forwards. “I-I, try again, try this one.”

The glass bottle drained, and Caleb had another bout of coughing. The sound got weaker as it went on, and Molly’s gut told him that was not a good sign.

“I do not think it worked,” Caleb whispered. 

“ _Fuck_ , what, why not? Why aren’t you—”

In his frustration and desperation, inspiration hit. He fumbled in his coat for a match, then found one and struck it. He held the tiny flame up to the tip of the spear and swore loudly.

Mixed against the gleaming red blood was a strange, black residue.

“You’re poisoned,” said Molly, and panic began to rise in his voice. “Fuck, Caleb, you’re poisoned.”

“Ah,” Caleb mumbled, “that would do it.”

“Fuck, fuck, Caleb, I can’t heal poison. How bad is it? Will you be alright? Fuck me, I can’t-I can’t lose you. Caleb, help me, what do I do?”

Molly pressed his forehead against Caleb’s temple. His ginger hair was plastered to his skin by a cold sweat.

“Where are the others?” Caleb whispered.

“I don’t know,” said Molly, “I don’t know. Just…just hang in there, alright? I’m sure-I’m sure they’ve noticed how long we’ve been gone. They’ll come find us, and then Jester can heal this, okay? I just…you just have to hang in there.”

“When they do, tell Nott—”

He was interrupted by another round of coughing. Spit and blood and something else, something dark and foreign, pooled in his mouth. He spit it out weakly.

“Shhhh,” said Molly, “don’t speak, don’t speak. Just be still. They—they’re coming, I know they are.”

“Tell her I am sorry,” Caleb whispered.

“No,” said Molly firmly, “you’ll tell her that. Hang on, just please hang on, ok?”

The blood from the wound was leaking out faster now. Molly could feel a wet stain forming along his cloak, a bloody echo of the ones streaking down his face, and he could not care less. There were a few seconds of silence.

“Mollymauk? Are you still there?”

“Yes, yes, of course, dear, of course. I’m still here, I’ll always be here.”

Caleb murmured something quietly, almost unable to speak any louder. The dust swirled around them in a dark cloud, though Molly’s eyes stayed closed and pleading against the side of Caleb’s head. 

“Mollymauk?”

“Yes, dear?”

“Do you _really_ want to tell me the secret?”

“What?”

“Your big secret. Do you _really_ want to tell it to me?”

“Yes, yes, more than anything.”

“You are certain.”

Molly smiled, but it was strained. “Of course I am.”

“Then please…please tell me.”

“I can’t, Caleb, not now, please, just…just don’t speak anymore, alright? You need to keep still—”

“Say it…say it in Infernal. I like the sound of Infernal.”

Molly remembered his silly promise from earlier, made as a joke to a man who could not even understand him.

 _Well, you just have to ask for it, and I’ll tell you everything you want to hear_ , he had said, and winked.

Molly took a deep breath and leaned back to look at Caleb’s face. His eyes were closed and his expression was strangely peaceful, and Molly thought back to that time Caleb had come to visit him, on the night they had gotten drunk, in that moment they had been alone in his bedroom. He could taste salt, and he tried to wipe the tears away.

“ _Before, I had nothing_ ,” he breathed softly, “ _except for dirt and emptiness. Not even a coffin. Then I met the circus, and I had joy and stories and music and adventures. I had a purpose, to guide people and bring them a bit of light. And then, one day, I found a light of my own. It was hiding, believe it or not, in a dirty, scruffy man in a coat that needs a good wash. But first impressions can be deceiving. This man was also powerful, brave, intelligent, beautiful, and understanding. He accepted me for me, Mollymauk Tealeaf, who had no past and no memories and nothing but some silly cards and a showy coat. He was and still is kind. And trusting. And loving. And of course, very fun to tease._ ”

Molly brushed a ginger lock of hair away from the wizard’s face.

“ _He…he is my light. He is my love. His…his name is Caleb Widogast. His name is Caleb Widogast and I wish he could understand me. I wish he could love me too_.”

A slow, dopey grin broke across Caleb’s face, so soft and warm and _alive_ that Molly thought he was hallucinating. Caleb reached up for Molly’s hand, and held it against his cheek. 

“ _I am glad_ ,” he said softly.” _Because I too have found my light. Because I do understand you. And I do love you too, Mollymauk Tealeaf._ ”

And as his grip slackened and his hand dropped, as Caleb slowly closed his eyes and let his head lay still, as his chest stopped rising and his pulse flickered out and his heart stopped beating and as all of that happened, Mollymauk realized that Caleb had spoken in Zemnian, that he had understood, and now soot and salt, _not dust_ , twirled slowly around them both—the remnants of one last spell, Comprehend Languages.

And now, Molly truly was alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ¯\\_( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)_/¯
> 
> But actually, WHEW that was a lot. Thanks for sticking around folks, sorry for everything I just wrote, will try to update soon (still in exam season) , please direct all screaming at the comments section below or [@sockablock](https://www.sockablock.tumblr.com) on Tumblr. I love you all and you're wonderful people for comin' along on this ride and for all your amazing support <3
> 
> (5/7 update: holy FUCK there are a lot of comments y'all <3)


	9. The Tower and the Hanged Man

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! Hope the wait wasn't too long, here's Chapter 9 now, featuring: the rest of the Party; Nott is Angry; Molly Recovers (sort of); the final fight; a soul in the darkness; Jester's discovery

Another blast rocked through the chamber. Yasha plunged her greatsword into the earth and braced herself for the impact, Jester and Nott clinging onto the back of her armor to stay put. Once the wave passed, the girls continued to run. 

“That felt really bad,” Nott panted, “worse than the first time.”

“I agree,” Jester nodded. “Do you need healing?”

“I have a potion, I’ll drink it when we stop.”

“It should be very soon,” said Yasha, right as they rounded a corner and burst back into the crossroads chamber where Fjord and Beau had just returned to as well. They were leaning against the tunnel entrance in a weak semblance of rest. Team Yasha approached, looking harried and slighty muddy. There was a tiny bit of blood at the edge of Fjord’s mouth. Beau had a pale sheen plastered across her face.

“Guys,” Jester called, “the _craziest_ stuff just happened.”

“Creepy waves of death?” Beau guessed. “Suspicious-ass floating balls?”

“That would be it,” Yasha agreed.

“Are you two alright?” Jester asked. “I can heal you if you need it.”

“We’ll be alright,” said Fjord. “We had potions. How are y’all doing?”

“I don’t think I’m hurt,” Jester said, “but there is something weird. Like…like a headache, but all over. A body-ache.”

“I feel like something tried to stab my soul,” Beau volunteered. 

“That would make sense,” said Yasha, and they all turned towards her in confusion.

“How do you mean?” Fjord asked.

“Yasha thinks that when the wave hit, whatever wasn’t strong enough to stand up to it…had their _soul_ stolen,” Jester explained. “And those glowing lights—"

“Where are Caleb and Molly?” Nott asked suddenly. 

They all looked down at her. She was peering down the northern entrance. Fear creeped at the edges of her large yellow eyes.

She looked up at the group. “Are they alright?” she pressed. “Did they come back already, and just went ahead again?”

Beau shook her head. “They weren’t here when we got here.”

“You don’t think—” started Fjord.

“So where is Caleb?” And now she was frantic as she cried, “where is Caleb, where are Molly and Caleb?”

Jester gave the little goblin a look of reassurance, nervous and unconvincing. “Maybe they didn’t find anything and kept going,” she tried. “They are probably perfectly fine. We can just go down their tunnel and find them, we can go north and find them.”

Her head whipped upwards to Fjord. “Right?” 

Nott took a deep breath to steady herself. Her pupils were slits and eyes were narrowed. “We have to,” she said, “we have to. I need to find my boy. And…and his boy.”

Fjord’s grip on the falchion tightened and he nodded. “No time to waste, then.”

They headed northwards, their boots squelching against the muddy ground and Yasha’s torch flickering in the quick passage of air. A tense silence hung over the group, none of them wanting to confirm their worst suspicions. Nott’s fingers tapped nervously on her flask, but she did not drink. Jester fidgeted with one of her pink ribbons as she walked. Beau had a grim look on her face, and though Yasha and Fjord kept up strong appearances for the others, they too were filled with worry. Then, after a couple hundred feet of empty darkness, something appeared in the distance—something blurry, faintly glowing, slowly creeping farther and father away. They started running faster, and didn’t stop until they recognized, with dread, what they were seeing.

“There they are again,” said Jester, furrowing her brow. “The little lights.” 

There were dozens now, most about the size of Nott’s fist. A few were much smaller, barely pinpricks of glimmering energy, and one or two were much, much larger, radiating a powerful light that swallowed others nearby. They all drifted northwards, towards where Molly and Caleb had vanished. 

“You really think they’re souls?” Fjord asked as the parade passed overhead. 

“I am not sure entirely,” said Yasha, “but it is possible.”

“I don’t really know much souls,” muttered Beau, “except that the Cobalt ones are supposed to worship the Knowing Mistress.”

“They should be in their bodies,” grumbled Nott. She took another swig. 

“We need to hurry,” Fjord said decisively. “We need to get ahead of them.”

“Why?” Jester asked.

“They’re all going somewhere,” he explained. “And I don’t know why or what’s causing it, but if they are souls, then Nott’s right. They should be in their bodies. The fact that they aren’t can’t be any good. I want to beat them to wherever they’re trying to get to, just in case something much worse happens when they reach that destination.” 

There was a moment of silence. Then the Nein began to run.

\----------------------

There was no light in this chamber. His match was shriveled ash on the ground. The air was dusty, sooty, stale. His mouth was dry. His cheeks were wet. There was a heavy weight in his lap.

His hands reached out carefully. That was Caleb’s hair. That was the lining of his coat. That was his cheek. 

He shifted, and Caleb’s limp body moved with him. The spear was still buried in his chest. Should he move it? Should he let it be? Did it matter?

Did it matter?

Someone, somewhere, in a time that no longer felt real, had once asked him a question.

_“Are…are you afraid of anything?”_

Mollymauk had not known fear when faced with the bloody, dripping maw of an enraged mother manticore, teeth like jagged blades and breath like the rot of death. He had not known fear when staring down the grotesque, sulfurous, mucous-slathered mass of a Devil Toad, tongue dripping with infernal rage, eyes like slits and voice like a closing tomb. He had not known fear when confronted by the past, all coal-colored fur and worshipping eyes and unknown memories and so, so, so many questions.

But now? But now?

_“Yes.”_

In the quiet, unfeeling darkness, surrounded both by nothing at all and all too much, buried somewhere far, far beneath the earth, Molly pressed his forehead back down against Caleb’s temple.

“Help me.” 

He squeezed his eyes shut. He clenched his fists.

“Help me,” he pleaded, voice desperate and broken. “I don’t…I don’t know what to do anymore. Please, Caleb, I don’t know what to do anymore. Please help me. It’s dark. I’m alone.”

His throat caught on a last breath of soot, and on an emptiness weighing like lead in his chest.

“Caleb, Caleb, please. I’m alone. I don’t know what to do, I’m alone, I’m alone, I can’t…I _can’t_ —”

And then there was a sound, like shifting rubble.

\----------------------

Even Nott joined in frantically pulling rocks out of the way—admittedly only small stones, but with the frenzied movements of a raging barbarian. Yasha and Jester tossed boulders to the side above her, while Fjord and Beau nervously kept their eyes on a series of strange, just-visible fingertips poking out of the ground.

“This is fucking awful,” muttered Beau.

“I agree,” mumbled Fjord. And then he turned to the others and warned, “Remember, we don’t know what’s back there. Be careful. We need to be prepared for anything.”

As the last large boulder was shifted to the side, the rest of the wreckage came tumbling down in a cascade of rubble. After a moment, the dust settled and revealed sizable break in the collapse. Weapons at the ready, they peered into the next chamber.

\----------------------

Torchlight spilled in. Molly looked up, and through the now-cleared ruins, met the startled faces of the rest of the Mighty Nein, eyes widened with shock and disbelief.

For a second, nobody moved. 

And then Nott came barreling through the entrance and scrambled over towards Caleb. When she saw the terrible spear lodged though his unmoving chest, she let out a shriek. 

“No!” she collapsed onto her knees. “No, no, Molly, he’s unconscious, right? You gave him potions, right?”

“I…I…”

“Jester!” Nott cried, and the blue tiefling instantly came forwards. “Heal him, Jester, heal him!”

She climbed in, much more carefully than Nott had, and knelt at Caleb’s side. Healing magic poured out of her hands. A soft, blue glow joined the warm orange of the torch.

Molly continued to stare forwards with a glassy expression, at somewhere far, far beyond in the distance. Two streaks of dried tears trailed down from both of his ruby eyes, tracing his cheeks and glinting in the light. 

As Jester continued channeling magic and Nott watched with a pitifully desperate focus, the rest climbed through the hole and approached cautiously, as one would a frightened animal. 

Beauregard sidled up first and touched a tentative finger to Molly’s shoulder.

“Are you okay?” she whispered.

He didn’t respond. He didn’t know how.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m sure…I’m…I’m sorry.”

“Mollymauk,” Fjord said gently, “I know this is a…this is a lot, but we’re still underground. We still need you. Things are still happening and we still need to get out of here.”

Yasha put a hand on Molly’s other shoulder and said nothing. 

Then the blue glow faded, and Jester shook her head. “It...it won’t take.” Her voice was so soft it was almost inaudible. “There is…there is no heartbeat. And even if there was, there is a _spear_ in him. He…he’s…”

Nott looked up at Molly. There were tears pouring out of her large yellow eyes. “What _happened_?”

“It…I…” he gestured vaguely around the chamber. The party now noticed that collapsed on the ground before them, scattered across the unturned earth, were six undead, unmoving forms. A seventh lay behind Molly, torn to shreds and partially covered in melting ice. 

“Shit,” said Fjord. “But…but healing potions…?”

“Poison,” whispered Molly,. There was a collective moment of resigned, angry silence. 

Nott gazed back at Caleb’s unmoving face. “So…so he’s gone?”

Molly didn’t answer.

“He’s gone,” she said again, “he’s gone.” 

And then her eyes narrowed and her teeth clenched and her face whipped towards Molly with an expression of the utmost fury and betrayal. “You were supposed to protect him,” she whispered. “You were supposed to keep him alive. You promised. You _promised_.” 

“I know,” he said. “I know.” 

“He’s…he’s…you _promised_ me, Mollymauk.”

“I know.”

“You lied,” she hissed, and reached down, and the rest of the party instantly moved in and raised their hands to try and stop her as they realized her fingers were against the belt she forever wore around her waist that carried all of her worldly possessions, moving towards her left hip where, as it always did, hung her faithful cross—

“Wait!” Jester cried suddenly, “wait!”

Everybody froze.

“There is…there is still something we can do!” she said hurriedly. “There...I have heard before that there are clerics that can…that can bring back the…the people like Caleb. That can bring back the dead.”

There was a second, where everybody tried to process this.

Fjord reacted first. “Can you do that?” he asked. “Can you bring him back?”

She bit her lip. “No,” she admitted, “I can’t…I can’t do that kind of thing. Not yet. But…but…if we can get him back aboveground, go to a temple…”

“We have to find them,” said Nott, wrenching her gaze away from Molly. “Screw this mission, screw the Gentleman, screw the city, we need to get him out and find one of those clerics!” 

“How long has he been dead?” Yasha asked.

They all looked at her, and then looked at Molly.

“I don’t…I’m not sure, maybe ten minutes?” he guessed. “Twenty? I don’t…I don’t know.”

Yasha nodded. “Those clerics we saw at the Victory Pit were casting on individuals who had been dead for seconds, not minutes,” she said slowly. “It can still be done, but the magic will have to be very powerful to restore life to someone dead longer than that.”

“Fuck,” said Fjord, “so then what can we—”

Suddenly, more light flooded the chamber. Above them, the procession of glowing orbs they had passed on their way here breached the remaining rubble and entered the room. The first tiny sphere drifted overhead, followed by another, and then another, until dozens of lights flooded in, heading for the brick wall on the other side of the chamber. They easily began to melt through the solid stonework, passing onwards to whatever lay beyond. For a moment, they all watched the lights go, unmoving.

And then a faint glow pulsed from Caleb’s unmoving chest. Jester, Nott, and Molly watched in awed horror as a pale, white sphere of light, larger than all the others, emerged from Caleb’s fallen form and began to rise into the air. 

“Shit,” breathed Fjord, “is that…”

“Put it back in!” Nott cried. “Put it back in!” She frantically tried to push the sphere down, but after a brief initial resistance, it passed through her fingers like a mist and reformed above, continuing to drift upwards until it reached the rest of the glowing parade overhead and fell into line. 

In shocked silence, the Nein watched it float through the brick wall.

Beau was the first to recover. “Fuck,” she said, “those…those really _were_ souls.”

“And that…that was Caleb’s,” said Fjord, shaking his head. 

“What…what do we do now?” Jester asked. “We can’t…we can’t…even if we _could_ have brought him back, we can’t do it now if his soul is missing…."

“Fuck,” Nott growled, “fuck all of this, none of this was supposed to happen—”

“We have to get through the wall,” whispered Molly.

They all turned to look at him.

“We…we have to get through that wall,” he tried again, louder this time. “We have to get through, follow the trail, and get the soul back.”

“But…but… _how_?” Beau asked. “And what’s even the point? Look, I care about Caleb too, but we don’t know what’s back there. And I don’t know if you all know something I don’t, but how are we supposed to just get a soul?”

Nott’s fury swiveled onto Beau. “So you’re saying we just _leave_ him _dead_?”

“Beau has a point,” Fjord said as gently as possible. “We barely made it this far, and whatever’s back there has obviously killed a _lot_ of things. We might…we might not survive that. We don’t even know what we’re doing.”

“But…but we need to try,” Jester said, biting her lip. “We…we still need to _try_ , don’t we?”

“And what if we _die_ trying?” Beau asked. “What if we don’t make it?”

Something in Molly stirred. “We have to,” he said. “We _have_ to.”

“I don’t wanna get fucking killed, Molly,” Beau pressed. “And it seems like we’d get fucking killed.”

“We are down a wizard now,” Fjord said carefully, “which seriously lowers our chances of making it out alive.”

“I know,” said Molly, and found that his voice was returning to him now. “I know you don’t want to die, and I know our odds aren’t great. I get that. I do. But…but…but what’s the alternative? I’m sure as hell not going without that soul, and I _know_ Nott isn’t going to leave either—”

“Neither will I,” said Yasha. “I am staying with Mollymauk.”

“—right, so that leaves three of you to get through these tunnels alone. Those aren’t great odds, especially since there are literally a dozen undead buried in the ground where you came from that could come alive at any second, plus all the crap running through these sewers already. And…and besides, that’s…that’s not the _point_. The point is…the point is, we’re a team. We’re a _team_. And that means we stick together. If…if we don’t look out for each other, nobody else will. And right now, Caleb needs us to look out for him more than he ever has before. We _have_ to go in there. We _have_ to try.”

“I’m not leaving,” Jester said firmly. “He is very important to me.” 

Beau and Fjord exchanged looks. 

“Caleb and I changed for you,” Nott said quietly. “We changed, and we trusted in you. You promised me we would keep each other safe. Didn’t you?”

She turned to Beau and Fjord. “ _Didn’t_ you?”

Beau’s grip on her staff tightened. Then she took a deep breath. “Fuck it,” she said. “You’re right. I…I fuckin’ did, and I don’t go back on my promises. Let’s…let’s go kill a thing and get a soul, I guess.”

Fjord sighed. “I’m sorry,” he said. “We _are_ a team. And that means something.”

Molly shot him a tiny, encouraging smile. Nott stared at Fjord with a calculating look before giving him a slight nod of acknowledgement.

Fjord nodded back, and put on a face of calm purpose, and looked at the brick wall behind them. The glyphs along the bottom continued to glow. “I’m assuming that wall’s got a barrier or something on it,” he said. “Anyone got a plan for getting through?” 

Molly turned towards Yasha.

“Have you used the Dispel Magic from your sword yet?” he asked.

“I have not.”

“And, Jester, still have those exploding sticks from the gnoll mines?”

“Yes, I do!”

Molly turned back to Fjord. “I’ve got a plan,” he said.

\----------------------

As the others bustled around the wall, figuring out where to place the dynamite, Molly and Nott sat outside the chamber, behind the cleared-out rubble around the tunnel entrance. Caleb’s fallen body lay between them.

“This is meaningless crap, but I _am_ sorry.”

“I know you are.”

“I just…I just…I didn’t see it coming. I was an idiot. And then I couldn’t do anything.”

“Yeah.”

“I’m sorry.”

She turned to look at him. “Don’t be sorry yet,” she said. “You can be sorry after we resurrect him. You can tell me you’re sorry then. You can tell Caleb right to his face what happened. But right now, right now you’ve got to be angry. You’ve got to be furious. That’s the only way we’ll be able to get his soul back.”

\----------------------

“The magic is gone,” said Yasha, moving into view. “I will come over now.”

Beau helped her through the hole, and Yasha crouched down with the others behind the rocky barricade. The chamber before them grew quiet and still. 

“The dynamite’s there, when you’re ready,” said Fjord.

Nott nodded and muttered a few arcane commands under her breath. For a second, they saw a spectral hand appear in front of her, before it promptly turned invisible. She struck a match and held it out for the unseen hand, which swiftly carried the tiny flame into the other room, towards the brick wall.

They watched it advance.

“What are the odds that we just end up caving in the tunnel?” Beau asked quietly.

“I have no idea,” said Molly. “Let’s just hope it works.”

“Everybody, get down!” Nott warned, and pressed herself against the floor. “It’ll blow s—”

The rest of the Nein dropped below the rubble just as a deafening explosion wracked the walls and shook the ground below them. The sound of bricks and stone hitting the ground resounded through the chamber and into their tunnel and for a moment, all of them feared that the damage would be so bad that they wouldn’t be able to get through. But once the dust settled and the noise stopped, they peered into the chamber and breathed sighs of relief. The brick wall was gone now, blown outwards into the final room. A steady, pale light leaked through the new hole, highlighting the swirling dust and tiny, hairline fissures in the ceiling.

Molly tried to take deep breaths, telling himself that the cavern would hold, and noticed that Jester was giving him a sympathetic look.

He wasn’t sure whether to be grateful, or bitter for needing pity.

“All clear,” said Nott, interrupting his thoughts. “We can go through now.” 

“Be careful,” Fjord whispered. “More careful than you’ve ever been. Once we get in, stay close to the walls,” Fjord said. “I know we basically blew down the front door, but it’s always better to be cautious.”

They all nodded, and began moving out of the tunnels and towards the chamber one by one. Molly and Nott were the last to go. Before they did, Nott gave Caleb a pat on the head.

“We’ll be back,” she said. 

Molly took a deep breath, and pressed a kiss to Caleb’s forehead. 

“Hang on,” he said. “We won’t be long.”

And then they joined the others in the chamber, gathered together around the broken bricks. Beyond, at this angle, all they could see was a wide expanse of stonework and dirt, painted in a soft blue light.

“Something tells me that this is it,” Yasha said quietly.

“Time to find out what the big bad is,” nodded Beau. “Time to solve this fuckin’ mystery.”

\----------------------

None of them had been prepared for this.

They stood on the floor of an enormous, underground hall, stretching for what seemed like miles before them, the ceiling reaching so far up that wisps of moonlight and night air trickled in through a tiny, tiny metal grate, distant and miniscule in the sky above. The mossy stone walls curved together to form a massive chamber that reverberated with the sounds of dripping water and whistling wind. Before them, a large, circular platform rose ten feet above the ground, its top sporting a wide stone slab they could just make out that was covered in papers and stacked high with tomes. The platform itself was surrounded by long, flat stairs that trailed up to the top, and at the foot of these imposing steps the stonework had been torn apart, ripped to pieces and pushed aside to reveal damp, heavily disturbed earth, and mounds of wet dirt scattered across the remaining tiles.

And all around them, all around them, trailing upwards from the north, south, east and western corners, churning thirty feet above their heads, was an enormous vortex of slowly-swirling, glowing souls, some infinitely tiny and other much, much larger, all spiraling together into a single, central point: a small black gemstone on a silver chain, surrounded by bright, arcane symbols, hovering high over the tall platform, suspended just above of a cloaked figure standing with its arms raised, facing away from the Nein and furiously reciting a smooth, almost lyrical chant in a language none of them knew. 

Everybody’s weapons lowered as they tried to process the scene before them, and the magnitude of the situation they had just burst into. For a moment, nobody moved.

Then the litany abruptly stopped, and a voice came from below the hood. 

“Oh. There’s more of you now.”

It was calm, and direct, and absurdly normal.

But Molly’s eyes instantly narrowed. Though it was slightly different without the strange reverberation of a metal projection, it was exactly the same voice that had spoken before…before…

“That’s him,” he hissed. “I recognize that voice, that’s the one who’s doing all of this.”

“Just…just give me a second,” Fjord whispered back. “This…this is a _lot_ , maybe I can just…just reason with ‘im or something?”

“I don’t think—”

“Look,” came the voice again. The figure’s back was still turned towards them. “I’m sorry, but I really don’t have time for visitors right now. Could you all just see yourselves out? I’m sort of in the middle of something.”

“We ain’t goin’ anywhere,” said Beau.

“You’ve got something of ours!” added Jester. 

Fjord put on his most charming voice. “Er...sorry, but we were actually sort of hoping you could help us. See, one of our friends is missing his soul right now, and we think it might be somewhere in here.”

“We’d like it back,” said Molly, seething with rage.

And then the figure turned, arms still outstretched. From within the darkened hood, barely visible, gleamed two, distant eyes, shining from the light of a thousand souls above. They were human. Warm. Coffee-brown, and wide with madness and crazed glee.

“That sounds awful,” said the figure. “But I’m very sorry. I need that soul tonight. And...you know…”

One of his outstretched hands clenched into a fist.

“…I think I actually might need all of yours as well.”

The earth came alive. Dirt and dust and gravel went flying and all around this massive hall, hands and weapons and fists and arms burst out of the ground encircling the central dais. Shambling corpses rose upwards, some decayed to skeletons with scraps of flesh, others almost human-like in the eerie blue light of the swirling souls. The necromancer grinned with delight and looked over his rising army. 

“Kill them,” he said nonchalantly. 

Every undead’s head snapped towards the Nein. 

As one, they raised their weapons.

\----------------------

Fjord ducked and wove around the slashes of the reanimated corpses as he tried to get a clear shot at the necromancer, now hovering twenty feet above the stone dais and unleashing spells of their own. He, Jester, and Nott sent spell after spell, attack after attack, towards the unrelenting figure as Molly, Beau, and Yasha hacked and carved at the waves of undead to distract them from the ranged fighters.

Rotting limbs and severed body parts littered the ground around them and occasionally, a burst of brilliant, radiant light or a crackle of dark energy would illuminate pieces of the battlefield, highlight grim skeletal grins or reflect off of rusting chest pieces. Then a crossbow bolt would go shooting past, perhaps missing completely, sometimes striking and doing no damage, once in a while impacting and causing the necromancer to grimace. A massive, purple spectral lollipop made rounds over the clamoring legion of undead, slamming down against multiple assailants at once, making sweeps towards their dark puppet master. A resounding _crack_ would echo across the fight as Beau’s staff made contact, or her fists found purchase. Fjord’s own eldritch blasts soared forwards as freezing, bone-snapping cold grabbed at the forms of any attackers unlucky enough to strike him. 

And yet, and yet, an endless wave of undead continued to press forwards. Their groaning, awful, terrible forms continued to strike back, and with every body cut to ribbons another would take its place. High above them, laughing madly in the air, the necromancer sent bolt after bolt of terrible, blackened energy that made the shroud crackling around Yasha look like a light mist. 

Fueled by the arcane forces bending to his will, the forcibly-harnessed energy of the lunar cycles, the sheer power of their dark ritual, the madness of success hanging just within reach, he was too powerful. The Nein was outgunned.

“We have to fall back!” Fjord yelled as another corpse swung at him. “We can’t fight this!”

“We have no choice!” Molly shouted back, knocking the skull off of a skeleton. “We can’t run away now!”

“He won’t let us,” Nott added, and ducked behind Yasha. “Besides, we need Caleb’s soul!”

Beau’s staff slammed against a zombie’s chest, and another lurched forward. “We’ve got to stop this ritual, too!” she shouted. “I know what this idiot is trying to do! We can’t let him succeed!”

Jester’s spiritual weapon took out another row of undead. “What is it?!” she cried. “What’s going to happen?!”

Though wrapped tightly with the cold rage driving her body forwards, Yasha’s voice held the faintest hint of fear. “This is…this is one of the darkest ancient magics,” she said, and took another swing. “This is the Rite of Lichdom.”

“You should be honored!” the necromancer called out with a gleeful smile. “It has taken me two decades to prepare for this moment! You all will witness the most glorious binding of a mortal soul to the very essence of magic itself!”

“ _Shut up_!” yelled Molly, and crimson poured from his hand as his Blood Maledict latched onto the necromancer’s soaring form. 

But it wasn’t enough. It was nowhere near enough.

Beau was the first, her form suddenly vanishing under the advance of the oncoming undead. Then Fjord took a nasty hit from a greatsword-wielding zombie, and as he was forced to retreat backwards, unwillingly exposed himself to a flurry of blows from the nearby corpses. Jester, in a panic to heal the others, was late to dodge out of the way of a strike to her head, and though she did not fall, couldn’t get to her friends in time. Nott was out of magic and dangerously exposed. Molly could only keep losing so much blood. Yasha’s rage was coming to an end. This was it. This would be their last stand, miles underground, against a crazed, would-be lich who had stolen Caleb away from them.

And then…and then…something happened.

Far, far above the battle, way up in the distance, at the center of the swirling, glowing vortex, a soul larger than most around it and shining strong and bright sank into the black phylactery just as the others before it had. For a moment, nothing seemed different. 

And then, the tiniest, faintest purple fracture appeared on the onyx surface. It was almost invisible. Almost completely insignificant. But it was enough. It was enough. And as the next soul was fed into the stone, and the next, and the next, and the next, more and more fractures began to form, like a dark violet spiderweb against the black gem until finally, finally, and there was a sudden, ferocious cracking sound.

The necromancer, still floating midair, doubled over in pain.

“What...what?” he breathed between labored, bewildered gasps. He turned around, and those same mad eyes widened as they saw the fissures creaking across his precious, precious phylactery. 

Down on the battlefield, the standing members of the Nein rallied. Jester’s spiritual lollipop ravaged a section of the oncoming zombies, and Molly hacked his way through another row. Yasha swung her greatsword around in a terrible arc, slicking three undead in half at once. 

“Something’s happening!” Molly yelled. 

“He seems hurt!” Jester shouted. “Something hurt him!”

Yasha looked up and squinted into the distance. “It is his phylactery,” she said. “It must be damaged. He must not have prepared it correctly?”

The necromancer continued to writhe in the air. “No!” he cried. “No! I’ve worked too hard on this! It has to work! I did everything right! I did everything right!” He clawed his way upwards, forcing himself to move until he was face-to face with the breaking gemstone, trying to discern what was happening between bursts of blinding pain.

All around him, the glowing spiral continued to pour into the onyx crystal, and more and more purple light began to leak out of its cracks and fissures. The enormous cloud of stolen souls hung above the chamber like a massive storm of relentless force and vengeful power. 

“It has to work!” he screamed again. “I did everything right! I did everything right!”

And from all the way down on the ground, surrounded by a throng of advancing corpses, still enraged by the loss of her best friend and covered with blood and chunks of rotting flesh, standing at three feet tall and weighing forty pounds, Nott the Brave looked up at the face of the crazed necromancer and leveled her crossbow.

“I don’t fucking care,” she hissed, and fired.

The tiny metal bolt shot through the air, over the heads of the shambling zombies, over the cold stone platform, directly through the necromancer’s wretched hood, and came sailing out the other end, where it hit the phylactery behind him. 

Cold, rage-driven steel embedded itself into the black onyx. 

Many things happened at once. 

A blinding, purple light enveloped the chamber. As it faded, undead and adventurer and frenzied necromancer alike watched as souls began streaking out of the dark crystal and scattering towards the four corners, vanishing through the stonework and fading as they returned to the Astral Plane. The arcane symbols that swirled around the gemstone winked out of existence. The raw energy fueling the dark ritual disappeared. And with a horrible, crippling scream, the phylactery shattered into obsidian dust and the necromancer fell ten, twenty, thirty feet, until he crumpled against the dais with a dull thud. All of the corpses remaining at the foot of the stone pillar instantly collapsed, the necrotic forces driving them onwards no longer existing to bind them to their undead life.

In the silence, the Nein caught their breath.

Yasha brushed the dirt and blood and pieces of rotting flesh off of her armor. Molly let the light and ice fade from his swords and his shoulders sagged. Nott stared at her crossbow. Jester rushed over to the fallen forms of Beau and Fjord, and administered a healing touch to them both. 

They all looked at one another.

“We’re fuckin’ alive,” Beau said quietly. 

“Fuck,” said Fjord. He turned towards Nott. "That was...that was...a good shot," he settled on eventually.

She nodded slowly, still somewhat in shock. "...thanks."

“So...so we did it?” Jester tried. “That guy…that guy _is_ dead, right?”

Yasha considered the lifeless pile of robes above them. “I believe he is,” she said. 

Molly breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank the gods,” he said. 

Nott looked around frantically. “Does that mean Caleb’s soul is back?” she asked. “Can we bring him back?”

They all exchanged looks. 

“Er…” said Beau, “I think so? I’m…I’m really not sure.”

“It should be,” said Yasha. “Without him to power this ritual, they should all have returned to the Astral Plane.”

Fjord looked around the chamber, and back at the central platform. 

“There are lot of papers and notes up there,” he said. “Maybe…maybe we can take a look at those to see if there’s any information.”

“That’s a good idea,” said Molly. 

“I could use some looting to take my mind off of…everything that just happened,” said Beau, and they all agreed.

They moved carefully, stepping lightly around the countless fallen corpses until they reached the necromancer’s fallen form.

“We should probably burn him,” said Molly.

“We can do that before we leave,” said Fjord.

And as the others began sorting through the papers on the stone slab, Yasha sat down at the top of the stairs with Molly. The two of them watched as Nott, at the foot of the stairs, began rifling through the pockets of the undead around them. It probably made her feel better. Nobody tried to stop her.

“Now that we are not fighting,” Yasha said quietly, “you are hurting.”

Molly considered that assessment. 

“Yes,” he said. 

“You were trapped in that chamber before we found you,” she said.

He nodded. 

“Were you afraid?”

He nodded again.

“I am sorry we took so long.”

He gave her a weak smile. “That’s…that’s alright, dear,” he said. “You still found—”

“Guys!” Jester cried frantically and they turned and looked up at her. “Guys, you have to come over here! Look at this!”

Molly and Yasha made their way over, avoiding the body of the fallen necromancer, with Nott scrambling up the steps after them. Jester had a large scroll unfurled on the surface of the stone slab and was pouring over it as Fjord and Beau looked on with interest.

“What’s that?” Molly asked as he approached. “Is it soul stuff?”

“Sort of,” Jester said, and she could barely contain the excitement in her voice. “It’s a spell scroll. It’s…it’s a scroll for a higher-level necromancy spell.”

“What does it do?” Beau asked. “I can’t read any of that.”

“Neither can I,” Fjord muttered.

“I can,” said Jester. “I’m a cleric. It’s…it’s for a spell called Raise Dead.”

There was a moment’s silence as they all processed this.

“Like…like make more zombies?” Nott asked.

Jester shook her head. “No, no, it’s not for making undead. It’s for…it’s for bringing people back to life. Anybody who died within the last ten days.”

“Ten days,” Molly echoed, a terrible hope creeping into his voice.

Fjord put a hand on her shoulder. “Jester, can you use this spell?”

“It’s a higher-level spell than I can usually cast alone,” she muttered distractedly, “but it’s possible with this scroll. I can…I can try to bring him back.”

“That’s amazing,” Fjord said softly, “that’s amazing.”

“I need diamonds to do it,” she said. “A _lot_ of diamonds.”

“Wannabe lich-guy had a lot of spell components lying around,” Beau said, and kicked a small satchel on the ground at the foot of the slab. A couple diamonds spilled out. “This enough?” she asked. 

“There _is_ chance it won’t work,” Jester frowned. “There’s a chance I can’t do it.”

“What would happen if it failed?” Nott asked worriedly. “Would he be gone for good? Will he come back as a zombie?”

Jester bit her lip, continuing to read. Then she shook her head with a confused look on her face. “No,” she said, surprised. “No, no, nothing would happen. We’d just have to bring him to someone else for them to cast the spell.”

Nott’s eyes widened. “So we can bring him back,” she whispered, “we can try to bring him back.”

Molly turned around. “Yasha, dear?” he asked, fighting to keep his voice neutral. “Can you please go get Caleb from the other room?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'ALL. I woke up Monday morning with 50 messages in my inbox, pretty much all of them some variation of "AAAAAAAAAAA" and I gotta say it was extremely satisfying and very amusing for me. But in all seriousness, thank you so so so much for your support and your response! Y'all are amazing and wonderful for sticking through this with me, and I appreciate you all so so much. Stick around, Chapter 10 is in the works and will be up later on this week. For now, comments and kudos will be super duper appreciated, and spread this story around! I want everybody to suffer as we all have ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
> 
> <3333333333333


	10. Copper, Goggles, Coat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hooo boy here we go! The long-awaited ressurrection chapter! I hope y'all enjoy <3
> 
> (And on a side-note, after that RIDICULOUS info-dump from the terrible and wonderful Liam O'Brien last thursday, I've updated Chapters 3 and 7 to reflect his backstory! If you feel like it (and don't mind spoilers) go and take a look! It might put some more things into context and also it was a good way for me to vent about what happened because DAMN)

Beau and Fjord helped Jester move the necromancer’s leather-bound tomes and rolls of parchment off of the stone slab and onto the floor. They pushed inkwells and folded-up papers aside, carefully slid gemstones and fragments of onyx away, stacked notes and spell components in heaps on the ground.

“I need a clear area,” Jester explained, glancing up from the scroll. “We’re going to have to lie him down on this table-thing.”

Fjord nodded. “Just let us know what to do,” he said.

She traced her finger along a line of text, invisible to the rest. 

“I’m going to need those diamonds soon,” she said, “and some chalk. There are runes and sigils I need to copy onto the stone.”

As they looked around for a piece of chalk, Molly and Nott sat at the edge of the dais, eyes trained on the broken brick wall in the distance. They were waiting for Yasha’s return.

“Now that we’re done with all that,” Molly said quietly, “will you accept an apology from me?”

Nott, still staring at the tunnel entrance, shrugged. “I don’t know,” she said. “Guess it depends.”

“Depends?”

“Yeah. First, are you sorry? _Really_ sorry?”

Molly raised an eyebrow. “Of course I am,” he said. “Of course.”

She nodded. “Alright. And will you do it again?”

Molly was not expecting this line of questioning, and floundered for an answer. “Er…no?” he tried. “Or, at least, I’ll do everything in my power not to let it happen again.”

She nodded again, and this time turned towards him. Her large yellow eyes shone in the faint light of Yasha’s torch, wedged between two stones and burning still. 

“I’m not mad at you,” she said eventually. “I’m mad at myself. It wasn’t your fault. It could have happened with anybody. I just wish I had been there. Even if there wasn’t anything I could do, I wish I had been there.” 

She gave him a long, thoughtful stare.

“I am glad you were there, at least. I think…I think Caleb is the sort of person that expected to be alone when he died. The sort…the sort that thinks when they go, nobody will care. So the fact that there was somebody there in the end, to hold him, that…that means a lot.”

Molly gazed upwards. The moon, through the tiny metal grate, was a bright speck in the distance. 

“He doesn’t ask for much, does he?”

“No,” she said.

“He deserves the world.”

There was a short laugh from Nott. He looked back down, and saw a faint smile playing across her face.

“That’s why I forgive you,” she said. “That’s why I’m glad you two have each other.”

Molly’s expression softened. “He has you too.” 

“Yes, but I can’t do anything for him,” Nott scoffed. “I’m a little goblin girl, hated by people. I can’t give him the knowledge he wants, I can’t teach him magic, he teaches _me_ , I can’t defend him when he needs it, I can only give him a bit of coin every now and then—”

“No,” said Molly.

She blinked. “Sorry?”

“No,” Molly repeated. “You _already_ give him what he needs. You make sure he knows he’s loved. You take care of him. You gave him someone to trust in and find happiness with. Money and power and all that are useless without the people that care about you.”

Nott fidgeted with her hands. 

“Thanks, Molly,” she said eventually. 

“You’re welcome,” he said. “Although that said, if you’ve got some extra gold, I did have to kill an awful lot of zombies and rotting flesh is really hard to clean up, so perhaps I _could_ use a new coat—”

She reached up and cuffed him on the shoulder. “Beg Jester for money,” she said, “her mom’s rich.”

“Aw, come now—”

Yasha’s figure appeared in the distance. In her arms—which were angled awkwardly because of the large spear in the way—was Caleb’s body. 

“How does he look?” Molly called as she approached.

“The same,” Yasha responded. “Maybe a little paler.”

“Do you need help?” Fjord asked, and then remembered who he was talking to. Yasha easily began to make her way up the steps.

“Put him down on the floor when you get here, please,” said Jester. “I am almost done with preparations.”

Molly walked over and peered at the stone surface. There was a white pentagon—narrow and a bit more than two feet in length—drawn on the tabletop, each point ending in a large circle filled with arcane scrolling that felt strangely familiar in an achingly distant way. He ignored this, likely a relic of his buried past, and continued to examine the rest of the markings. Jester had scrawled another series of runes along the edges of the pentagon, and at the very center was another circle, larger than the rest, connected to the five outer points and filled with even more strange symbols.

“I hope this is good enough,” Jester murmured. “I’ve never done something like this before.”

“I believe in you,” Fjord said firmly, and she gave a small smile.

“Now we need to make sure Caleb is good for the spell,” Jester said, just as Yasha cleared the top of the steps and placed his body on its side, at the ground by her Jester’s feet.

“Let me know when you need me to move him again,” Yasha said, and took a step back.

“Thanks.” Jester placed the scroll on the table and knelt down by Caleb. His hair was plastered against his forehead from the dampness in the air. His eyes were closed and his lips had turned a pale blue. Mud and dirt covered his coat, which was still pinned to his body by a five-foot spear. The shaft stuck out of his back.

“Raise Dead will cure all mortal wounds and neutralize any poisons,” Jester said, “but we’re going to have to get rid of that spear. It would probably be super bad for the spell and for Caleb if we tried to bring him back like that.”

The mental image almost made Molly laugh, and he immediately felt sick. He looked away.

Beau knelt down by Jester. “Here,” she said, “I’ll help.”

Jester nodded her thanks. “Ugh, this…this is going to be kind of nasty, but can you hold him still? I’m…I’m going to pull the spear back out.”

“Is that the best idea?” Nott asked. “What if it makes it worse?”

Jester and Beau considered Caleb’s body.

“He’s already as bad as it gets,” said Beau. 

Fjord tried to give Nott a reassuring glance. “I’m sure it’ll be fine,” he said. “Magic can do some pretty crazy things.”

Though still mildly unconvinced, Nott relented. They all—minus Molly—watched with some parts sympathy, some parts horrid fascination, some parts nausea as Jester carefully began yanking on the weapon.

“He really liked that coat,” Nott sighed as they looked on.

“Maybe the hole won’t be so bad,” Fjord said, just as there was long, terrible squelching, followed by a vicious tearing sound, and the spear was pulled free. Jester gave it a complicated glance, and then tossed it aside. It rolled off the central dais and tumbled off the stairs and joined the corpses below. Molly watched it come to a standstill, and finally was able to look back at Caleb’s now-freed body.

“I coulda kept that,” said Beau.

“ _Why_?” asked Fjord.

She shrugged. “Maybe Caleb would’ve wanted to see it or something.”

“He already saw it plenty,” Molly sighed. Then he turned to Jester. “Is that it? Are…are you going to start the ritual now?”

“Almost,” she said, and motioned for Yasha to help her move Caleb onto the slab. They placed him on the rune-marked surface so that his back was against the stone and his arms were at his sides. The top of the pentagon lay above his head, then two points just outside his shoulders, and the bottom two just under his waist. Jester regarded his positioning for a moment. Then when she seemed satisfied, she reached for the bag of diamonds. She placed a small pile—which was a considerable fortune in its own right—at the center of each of the lower circles. Then she moved around to stand behind Caleb’s head, and turned towards the others.

“When I start the spell,” she said, “I’m not exactly sure what will happen. But from what I can tell on this scroll, it requires three offerings from three different people to bring him back.”

“Offerings?” Fjord asked. “What sort of offerings?”

“Like money?” Yasha tried.

“No,” Jester said, and then corrected herself. “Well, I guess it _could_ be money, but all it needs to be is something you give or do or say that’s meaningful to…to the person you are trying to bring back. So, something meaningful to Caleb.”

There was a brief silence as they thought about this.

“Okay,” said Nott, stepping forward. “I’ll do one.”

Jester nodded, and there was a faint smile on her face. “I figured you would,” she said. “I…I kind of want to do something too, but since I’m performing the ritual I’m not sure I can.”

“I-I will,” and the group turned around in surprise to see Beau step forward as well, fidgeting now under the attention. She looked like she wanted to back away, but steeled herself and said, “I have something.”

Nott gave her a curious look, and Jester only hesitated slightly before saying, “Okay. Good. That just leaves one more.”

Molly took a deep breath. “I’d be lying if I said this wasn’t something I needed to do.”

Jester’s smile softened slightly. “Of course.” Then she nodded decisively. “Alright, everyone. If you’re ready…?”

There was a small chorus of agreement.

“Okay,” she said, and smoothed her hands down over the scroll. “Let’s bring him back.”

\----------------------

Nott stood in front of Caleb. Tears ran down her face.

“When I met you in that dinky little prison cell,” she started slowly, “I just thought you were a pile of rags someone had thrown into the corner and forgot about. And then…and then when you started moving, and I realized you were a person, I thought the guards had thrown us in together to see which one of us would kill the other first. And maybe they did. But…but instead, I met a person who didn’t care what I was, and bothered to talk to me. And I know you think of me like a little sister, but…but…well, you are also very important to me. You were the first human I’d met in a long time that didn’t run away from me or try…or try to hurt me. You talked to me. You smiled at me. You asked me if I had a _name_. You gave me your water and shared your coat when it was cold and you…you made me feel like a real person. Even though we were strangers. Even though I was a goblin. It didn’t matter. And when we started travelling together, you taught me so many things. You taught me to be brave. To stand my ground and fight for other people. To make friends, and to trust. And…and…you taught me to do this.”

She reached into her pouch and pulled out a single, thin copper wire. She wrapped it around her finger and cupped her hands together.

“I promised I would protect you,” she whispered. “And I swore I would always look out for you like you looked out for me. So…so come back, Caleb. Come back, and we can keep looking out for each other. And please…please respond to this message.”

And as she lowered her hands and stood before the stone slab that held Caleb’s body, the blue light surrounding the ritual flared for a moment. When it faded, the circle by Caleb’s left shoulder was glowing.

“It worked,” Jester breathed softly. “It worked. Good job, Nott! Now…now we need the next offering.”

Beau stepped forwards as Nott backed up, returning to stand with the others. 

The monk had her blue sash in her hands, and was rubbing it nervously.

“I don’t…er…I don’t know much about what happens after you die,” she started tentatively, and looked to Jester for reassurance.

The tiefling gave her an encouraging nod, and she took a deep breath and turned back to Caleb. “My…my family always said that if you were good, you’d get brought to the side of the gods or something like that. But…but I don’t know. About gods, or anything like that. And…well…I’ve been knocked down before. Not…obviously not as bad as you. But whenever that happened, it always got really dark. And…and I know how hard it is to be lost in the dark. Which is why it was always nice to have you around, y’know? ‘Cause…’cause you were always ready to give us some light. And I know you told me once that making lights isn’t a big deal, but it _is_ for the rest of us. Or…or it is for me, at least. So maybe this is a stupid metaphor, and maybe I’m just being an idiot, but I thought it might be my turn. To bring you some light.”

And she reached around the back of her head and tugged on the strap of her darkvision goggles. She pulled them over her bun and carefully placed them on Caleb’s forehead.

“Maybe it’s stupid,” she said again, “but…but…but I thought you’d like it. After all, neither of us can see for shit, and it isn’t fair that I hog these all the time. We’re always getting on your case about sharing, so fair’s fair. Come…come back, alright? Come back so I can share my shit with you. We…we’re the only empire kids, and I know you’ve been through some shit but we…we…Team Human, right? We’ve got to stick together. So…so come back, alright?”

And then she backed away, moving behind Jester. When, after a few seconds, nothing happened, Beau looked down at the ground and muttered something under her breath. Jester almost broke away from channeling the magic to go reassure her, but then—

—the circle on Caleb’s right began to glow.

“You did it,” Yasha murmured softly, and Beau looked up in surprise. “You did it.”

“Good work, Beau!” Jester said excitedly. Then her tone got more serious as she prompted, gently, “Molly? It is your turn now. Last one.”

Mollymauk took a tentative step forward. Then he steeled himself and crossed the rest of the distance towards the stone slab, passing Beauregard and Nott, passing Jester, until he was standing over Caleb’s unmoving form. The blue glow of the ritual softened his piercing red eyes.

He took a deep breath. “I…I said something to you, once—well, twice now—because it was something I wanted to tell you. I wanted you to know how important you were to me, how much you’ve changed my life in the short time we’ve known each other. I wanted you to know that you mattered much, _much_ more than you thought you did, and that there are people out there who would…who would miss you if you were gone. All of that was true. Every word.”

He wiped at the corner of his eyes with his sleeves.

“But I didn’t think you thought of me as anything more than a colorful distraction. I thought…I thought you were just hanging around for protection, or for safety. And I was more than willing to just be a pretty face in the crowd,” he said, and gave a short laugh. “After all, what have I got to offer you? And then…and then the most marvelous thing happened. You started telling me about yourself. You came to _me_ , to talk to _me_. You wanted to spend time with me. Nobody…not many people have ever really wanted to do that. And I finally find out that you, all this time, you felt the same way about me. I still can’t believe it. I still can’t bloody believe it.”

And he gingerly shrugged his coat off, thinking back to that night when Caleb had fallen asleep on his bed, the first night he had come to visit and had trusted Molly with his darkest secret, the night that had given him so much hope and had convinced Molly to keep chasing and keep believing, and swung the brilliant and colorful fabric over the wizard’s cold form.

“Your…uh…your coat kind of got fucked up. Personally I’d blame it on Jester, but she’s the one casting this ritual, so maybe we shouldn’t. We can blame Fjord instead. But you can borrow mine, for now. I know it’s showier than you probably would want, but I hope it works.” He cracked a smile. “I quite like the way it looks on you, you know.”

And then his expression softened into something more serious, and something much more desperate.

“Please wake up,” he said, “wake up and give me more stories. Ask me again for a fortune. Speak your silly languages at me. Tell me…”

He swallowed, knelt down so his face was level with Caleb’s, and tried to keep his voice from breaking. “Tell me again that you love me,” he whispered. “Please, tell me again. I love you too, Caleb. Please, I love you too.”

The last chalk circle lying above Caleb’s head exploded with a brilliant, radiant light, before quickly fading back into the dull blue of the others. Molly almost backed away, but forced himself to remain by Caleb’s side.

And Jester closed her eyes, and all around them Caleb’s body began to glow. Then the light began to swell, growing brighter and brighter and as it did, they watched the gaping wound on his chest began to slowly knit itself back together. The ripped flesh became whole, the blood faded away, the muscles repaired themselves until there was nothing left but clean skin under a torn linen shirt.

And when the light faded, they all stared at the unmoving body on the slab, holding their breath in anticipation and fear and worry and hope.

And then there was a sharp, deep inhale, and air flooded back into Caleb’s lungs. The ashen color of his skin faded into his usual pale pink, though still a bit paler than usual, and the painful dark purple drained away from his lips.

And slowly, ever so slowly, Caleb opened his eyes.

He looked up at the distant moon through the tiny, tiny grate high above in the ceiling. His brow furrowed with faint surprise.

“ _Wo ist das Feuer_?” he mumbled weakly. 

He gingerly moved his elbows and struggled to sit up, and only then did he see the rest of the Mighty Nein staring back at him, eyes wide with shock and surprise and delight and relief and—

He blinked in confusion. “Er…hello, everyone?” he said, this time in Common. “What…what just happened?”

Nott lunged forwards, leaping into a flying tackle, launching herself onto the stone slab and swinging her arms around his upper body. She buried her head into his chest and began to sob. The rest let out a collective sigh of relief. Fjord put his hand on Jester’s shoulder and Beau let go of her sash.

“You were dead!” Nott cried, words muffled by tears and hiccups and Caleb’s coat. “You were dead, a zombie killed you, you were dead! But then…but then…Jester brought you back.”

Caleb craned his neck to see Jester. “You…you brought me back…?” he murmured.

“It wasn’t _only_ me,” she said quickly. “Beau and Nott and Molly helped.” 

He was quiet for a moment. And then:

“Thank you, all of you.”

She nodded rapidly, and then when she couldn’t contain herself any longer, ran around the slab and threw herself against him for her own hug. “It worked,” she sobbed, “it worked! Oh, it worked, you’re okay, you’re okay!”

He reached an arm around and gave her a pat on the back. “You really are _the_ Cleric,” he said softly, and her cries were interrupted by giggles.

“Thanks for not being dead forever,” Beau said from the side. “I want my goggles back now.”

A faint smile crept across Caleb’s face as he felt for his forehead and found the darkvision goggles nestled in his hair. He took them off with one hand and passed them over to Beau who, despite herself, grinned. 

“Welcome back,” said Fjord with a smile of his own. “Don’t do that again, alright?”

“I’ll do my best,” Caleb chuckled. Next his gaze fell on Yasha, who standing at the half-orc’s side.

She nodded at him. Caleb nodded back. 

And finally, transaction completed, he turned to his side where Mollymauk was kneeling nervously and searching Caleb’s face with his eyes for…for…for something. Caleb tried on a sheepish grin. 

“So…” he asked slowly, “did you mean what you said?”

“You heard?” Molly whispered.

“Every time,” Caleb said, and then corrected himself. “Well, the first time I only heard. But the second time, and just now, I think…I think I understood.”

Molly’s shoulders relaxed, and he laughed softly. He got up and sat on the slab by Caleb’s side. “I meant every word,” he said. 

“Oh,” Caleb said, and his cheeks began to color. He looked down. “Oh, good. I am glad for that.”

“You sly bastard,” Molly sighed, and now a pure, almost childlike joy radiated from his face. Then he turned towards Nott and Jester and gave them pleading looks. After a second, Nott grudgingly sighed and she and Jester slid off of the slab to stand back with the rest and allow the two of them a private moment.

“You damn wizard,” Molly grinned when the girls left. “You absolute, arcane menace. That’s got to be a misuse of magic.”

“ _Verzeihung_ ,” Caleb apologized, though a faint, cheeky quirk played at the edges of his mouth. “Next time I should warn you before I cast it?”

“Yes, but I’ll forgive you,” Molly said, and slid his hand around the back of Caleb’s neck. “Only because you basically admitted the same thing to me. We’re square.” 

Mindful of his horns, he pressed his forehead against Caleb’s and breathed a long, deep, relieved exhale. Then he closed his eyes, but the tears still fell.

“I’m so sorry,” he whispered. “I’m so, so sorry.”

Caleb put a hand on Molly’s shoulder. “It wasn’t your fault,” he said, closing his eyes as well. “You did everything right. It wasn’t your fault.”

Molly’s body shook, but he gave a faint nod. 

“I…I am sorry I left you alone down there,” Caleb murmured.

“It’s alright,” Molly breathed. “it’s alright. You’re back now.”

He took a moment to compose himself, and then leaned back. “Just don’t do it again, okay? Don’t…don’t leave me again, okay?”

Caleb smiled. His eyes were soft and his thumb rubbed a circle on Molly’s shoulder. “Okay,” he said. “Okay.”

“If anything, I’ve only got this one coat so if you get stabbed again, I won’t have another to give you.”

Caleb laughed. It was loud, and happy, and the most incredible sound Molly had ever heard.

“I suppose I should get that hole fixed,” he said, “so you do not have to give me your clothes to wear.”

“If you’d like to wear my clothing you only have to ask, dear,” Molly grinned, and Caleb blushed.

Then they turned and looked at the rest of the group.

“You guys can turn back around now,” Molly laughed. “It’s not like we were kissing or anything.”

As Caleb’s face turned a deeper scarlet, Jester pouted. “Aw, man,” she said, spinning back around, “what was even the point then?”

“I didn’t wanna see any mushy shit,” said Beau, but her expression wasn’t quite as hard as she meant it to be.

Nott climbed back onto the stone slab. “Alright, Mollymauk, move. I’ve still got some hugging to do.”

\----------------------

“I’m taking these,” said Beau, and scooped the remaining diamonds off of the ground. “If any of you other fuckers die, we’ll be ready.”

Fjord sighed, but helped her place them into the haversack regardless. “Hopefully we won’t need them, but that’s a good idea,” he said. 

“Could somebody grab those scrolls?” Caleb asked. “I would like to look at them later.”

Nott shoved them into her bag, and as they crinkled Caleb winced slightly, but he thanked her anyways.

“Here’s some daggers too,” said Molly. “Not exactly sure if you want them, since—”

“Hand ‘em here,” said Nott, “I want them.”

“Does anybody need these onyx stones?” Yasha asked. “There are a few here.”

“Maybe take them just in case,” said Molly. “We might need to break them or something. Oh, and would you mind carrying the necromancer down too? I’ve got some matches, we can burn him before we go.”

“Did you search his pockets yet?” Caleb asked.

Jester turned around and flashed seven new rings stacked on her fingers. “I did!” she said. “He had a lot of jewelry.”

“I hope those aren’t cursed,” said Beau, and Jester blanched and began rapidly pulling them off.

“I can set him on fire if we need,” said Caleb, but Molly quickly shushed him.

“You were _dead_ five minutes ago. You’re not even going to walk out of the chamber by yourself.”

“Molly—”

“No. Doctor’s orders.”

“You’re not a doctor,” said Nott. “The closest you’ve ever been to a doctor was that time you put scrambled eggs on your—”

“New subject,” said Fjord, sighing again. “ _Please_.”

\----------------------

“And then Yasha was all like ‘go away,’ and she hit the zombie with her sword! And then Fjord was like ‘ahhhh I’m weak and I don’t have a lot of strength’ so I tried to run over and heal him but—”

“Now, hang on, I don’t think it went _exactly_ like that.”

They made their way back through the tunnels, heading south towards the exit. Every once and a while, a strange noise would set them on edge, or a finger would look like it was moving, but nothing came out to attack them. Their progress was somewhat slowed by stopping to drop matches on the uncovered zombies, and mentally reminding themselves to let the Gentleman know about the still-buried ones. As they walked, Jester continued narrating the battle for Caleb, who was being helped by Mollymauk’s shoulder and trailed closely by a still somewhat-nervous Nott.

“And then something _super_ weird happened! There was this crazy purple light and suddenly the necromancer started freaking out! There was something wrong with his phylact-thingy, and he was super duper hurting! And so we all started attacking all over again, or most of us since Beau and Fjord were unconscious, and then finally the light was so bright and he was freaking out so much and then Nott, oh my gosh you’re going to be so impressed, Nott pointed her crossbow up at him and was like ‘fuck you,’ and she shot him and she hit him and the bolt went _right_ through his hood and hit the gemstone and it exploded! And then he died.”

“Wow,” said Caleb, “That _is_ impressive,” and Nott blushed a darker green. “I am sorry I missed that.”

“That’s okay,” said Jester, leaning over and giving him a pat on the hand. And then she made a face and said, “You know, I am covered in rotting zombie parts. And after hugging you, there is a lot of mud on my dress. And…you know what that means we should do!”

Nott reached for her flask. “Don’t say it,” she pleaded, “don’t say we should—”

“Go get baths!” Jester cheered, nearly punching the just-resurrected Caleb with her excited fist. “We need baths! A hot bath and lots and lots of laundry done. I never want to go underground again.”

“Please,” said Molly. “I’m disgusting.”

Caleb nodded. “I believe I could use some washing-up as well,” he said. “And I would like to avoid the sewers for some time.”

“Do you think you’ve got an infection?” Beau asked. “You were on the ground for a while.”

Jester put her hand on Caleb’s arm. “I will cure your diseases if you need me to,” she said. And then she paused and added, “Tomorrow. Today I am tapped.”

“Thank you,” Caleb smiled. “Truly, though, thank you. I…I admit that I never thought I would be resurrected should I fall.”

“Oh, well, it was nothing,” Jester said, “it was a spell scroll and all that but don’t ask me for it again because I have no spells right now and also the scroll disintegrated after I cast it.”

“That…that is not…” Caleb sighed. “That is not entirely what I meant, but thank you.”

Jester frowned. “What did you mean—”

Molly’s stomach sank as he realized. “Of course, Caleb, of _course_ we would bring you back. We almost went crazy trying to figure out what to do before your soul got stolen and we fought the crazy necromancer and we found that scroll.”

“I…thank you,” he said, and then in a tone so hushed only Molly could hear, he whispered, “I did not think I deserved it. But…after what you said to me…I am glad it happened.”

Molly scoffed. “Of course,” he murmured back. “We can talk about this later, dear, but for now let’s get you cleaned up.” And then he raised his voice and grinned to the group, “Baths! And hopefully this time there won’t be any black puddings that try to eat us.”

“If there are,” Beau grinned, “they can eat you first.”

And Molly opened his mouth to spit out a retort, but paused and decided to hold his tongue. She'd earned that one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading! I think this might be the second-to-last chapter, or second to second to last, and I just wanted to give you guys a heads up and thank you so so much for sticking through this whole story with me. I've had so much fun writing it, and it's been an amazing journey, and I can't express how much I appreciate the reception I've gotten on this piece. You all are wonderful, and don't worry about me disappearing! I've still got Rogue, and another piece I've started working on thanks again to Liam's Backstory CRAZINESS, so I won't be gone for long! 
> 
> In the meantime, Comments and Kudos keep me going, and if you ever feel like it, hit me up [@sockablock](https://www.sockablock.tumblr.com)! 
> 
> I love you all <333


	11. The Moon through their Window and the Sweet Sunlight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comin' at you guys live from day 3 of a storm-induced blackout, we finish it

“Oh, _gods_ ,” sighed Molly as he slipped into the warm water next to Caleb, “I needed this.” 

The wizard, who had startled slightly at Molly’s entrance and was now blushing furiously, sunk farther down into the pool. “ _Ja_ ,” he agreed slightly too emphatically, “after all of that I am glad as well.”

Fjord gave an impressed whistle. “Wow, we must really have been filthy then, huh?”

Caleb rolled his eyes. “We were in a sewer. I was speared. That means I need a very long, and very hot bath.”

Jester, already working a sweet-smelling substance through her hair, nodded excitedly. “Caleb is right!” she said supportively, “I cannot wait to be clean and then to wear clothes that are not covered in mud or slime or zombie brains.”

“Thank you again for paying for all of us,” said Yasha. “You did not need to do that.”

“Oh, it was no problem!” Jester beamed. “I am happy to if it means we will not be stinky anymore.”

“Amen to that,” nodded Beau, “I think I have mud in m—”

“Wait, a second,” Fjord held up a hand. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but, Nott, _why_ are you doing that?”

As one, the group looked left to the smaller, shallow pool on the side, intended for parents to bathe their children or to provide toddlers a safer location to play while the adults washed up. Nott was sitting in the middle of it, still dry and fully dressed after having drained the water away. She was busy pouring the gold coins out of the haversack and onto the tile around her.

“I’m going to swim in money,” she said matter-of-factly. “We’re rich now, and that’s something rich people do, isn’t it?”

“Probably?” Molly guessed. “I don’t know, if I were rich I’d give it a shot.”

“Do you want to come and try? There might be enough room for us both.”

“We’re not _that_ rich.” Jester sent ripples through the water as she raised her hands. “This is rich,” she said, and put her left hand high above her head. “This is like… _hundreds_ of thousands of gold. This is us,” and she put her right hand just above the surface of the pool. “The gentleman only gave us seven thousand gold.”

“That is still a lot of money,” said Caleb, whose only visible body part now was his head from the chin up. “I can buy so much paper now.”

“Do you _always_ spend all your money on paper?” Beau asked.

“No,” said Caleb, “sometimes I spend it on ink.”

As Beau sighed and Yasha gave her a pat on the shoulder, Molly called to Nott. “How’s it going? Get any laps in yet?”

“I think Jester might be right,” she responded, and let a few coins fall through her fingers. “I think we might need more gold before I can actually try to swim in it.”

“We could get the gold changed for coppers,” Yasha suggested. “That would make more coins for the swimming.”

Nott sighed. “No, it wouldn’t be the same.”

“There’s plenty you can do with just some gold, though,” said Jester. “Sometimes rich people make piles of gold and then they have sex on them. I’ve heard of barons that do it right in the treasury.”

“Wow, alright,” said Fjord as he sank further down into the water, “I’m so glad you told us that.”

“Really? Because you do not look very glad.”

“Perhaps you should clean that up, now,” Caleb suggested to Nott, “before the staff come back and wonder why there is a small goblin covered in gold pieces in an empty child’s bath. It is already weird enough that we are bathing at six in the morning.”

As Nott started scooping the coins back into the haversack, the conversation drifted back to the events of the evening, just after the battle. The Gentleman had been pleasantly surprised to see their return, and had rewarded them handsomely for eliminating the necromancer in his sewers and for presenting him with (some) of the research and notes from the rite. And then they had returned aboveground for some much-needed cleaning.

“It is lucky that this place is open,” Jester said cheerfully. “I thought we would have to wait a lot longer.”

“I imagine the…er…the ritual you did took up quite some time,” said Fjord. “And then looting the sewers and getting _out_ of the sewers and talking to the Gentleman and eating breakfast, we made pretty good time.”

“I still can’t believe we _lived_ ,” said Beau. “And that’s comin’ from me.”

“Well, _most_ of us l—” Jester began, but quickly bit her tongue.

Caleb sighed. “It is alright,” he said. “I am here now, _ja_?”

“Yes, that is true,” she agreed, and then leaned down and peered closely at his face, which caused a significant reddening of his cheeks. “How _are_ you feeling, Caleb? You were…you were not so great earlier.”

He blinked. “I am feeling alright.” Then his gaze flickered over to Molly, who was staring at him with an entirely disbelieving look, and sighed.

“Alright,” he admitted, “I am not feeling _completely_ alright. I am just very tired. You know, the day before we all met in Trostenweald, I believe I had slept twenty hours that night. I am even more tired than that.”

“That’s _real_ tired,” said Nott, who had returned the haversack to the side-chamber with their belongings and had just finished putting on a towel. She took a seat at the edge of the water. “He was like a rock that whole day. Very boring.”

“ _Ja_ ,” Caleb agreed. “I am tired like that.”

“How’s your chest?” Jester asked. “Does it feel okay?”

Caleb hesitated for just long enough to raise Molly’s suspicions, but just briefly enough that it could have been a thoughtful pause. “It feels alright,” he said. “Perhaps a bit…tender?”

Jester nodded and sat back down, which caused significant relief in Caleb and significant blushing in Fjord, who she was sitting very close to. Beau snickered. 

“That is not surprising,” Jester said. “You went through a lot.” 

“A lot went through you too,” said Beau, unable to resist. “Namely, a spear.”

“ _Ja_ , I remember,” sighed Caleb. “I am glad it is no longer there.”

“I was gonna keep it in case you wanted to see it,” said Beau, and as the party grimaced she plowed on, “in case you wanted to make sure it was gone. Visual confirmation and that kind of shit can go a long way in helping you cope with traumatic experiences.”

There was a long pause. 

“Well,” Fjord mused. “I was not expecting that.”

“What?” Beau asked defensively.

“Just…just…nevermind,” he said, giving up. “It’s a good idea.”

She shrugged, and went back to picking at her scabs. 

“So what do you think happened with the phylacter-thingy?” Jester asked, turning to Caleb. “Why did it start glowing so crazy and stuff?”

Caleb considered this. “I am not entirely sure,” he said. “It is entirely possible that he made a mistake in preparing the ritual. There are many parts to just creating the phylactery itself, ensuring the onyx is of proper quality and of the right cut, making sure the metal you use to bind it is not contaminated in any way with iron, and performing the correct spells on the gemstone at the correct time even before attempting anything with it. And then it is possible he started too early or too late, or there was not enough moonlight, or a word was pronounced incorrectly or a hand gesture was done too far to the left. It is an extremely delicate process, and the fact that he was fighting all of you off and controlling an army of undead at the same time means there is was quite a lot of room for error.”

“There was some crazy stuff going on with the souls too,” said Fjord. “Like, after that first burst of purple light, the more souls that went into it, the worse he seemed to get.”

Caleb shrugged. “Perhaps one of the souls did not enjoy being stolen,” he said in a manner that would have been joking on anybody but Caleb. “Perhaps there were simply too many, or they were not strong enough. There is no real way to tell.”

“There is one thing we do know, though,” said Jester.

“Oh?”

“Yes! Nott was so incredibly super cool when she killed him! It was like a scene from a storybook!”

Nott’s cheeks flushed. “It wasn’t anything that special,” she said. “I just aimed and got a lucky shot.”

“The luckiest shot,” said Yasha, and Nott kicked at the surface of the water in pleased embarrassment.

“He probably just fucked something up,” said Beau. “There was a lot going on.”

“We _are_ very distracting people,” Molly agreed. “Sometimes it’s our looks, and sometimes we’re shooting blasts of magic and crossbow bolts and hitting people with lollipops.”

“That was a great use of Spiritual Weapon,” Fjord said with a smile to Jester. “I didn’t know it could take down that many things at once.”

“I didn’t either!” she giggled, and beamed at the praise. “I’ve never fought that many things at once before.”

As the others began recounting different points in the battle— _and Beau, that was a great hit when the zombie’s eyes flew out—nah, it was nothin’_ —Caleb scooted back onto the tiled bench so that he was shoulder-deep, and looked down at the water. 

“You are sitting quite close to me, Mollymauk,” he whispered.

There was a familiar chuckle from his left. “Is that a problem for you, dear?”

Caleb blinked. “No,” he said. “It is just…I am unsure of what to do.”

“Is there anything you’d _like_ to do?”

Caleb swallowed. “Yes,” he said. “But perhaps not now.”

Molly laughed again, and the water moved with him. “I see.”

“But,” Caleb said, “but I do not think we can…we _can_ do anything until we have had a talk.”

“A talk?”

“ _Ja_. Perhaps…perhaps later, if that is alright?”

“Of course, dear. Not having second thoughts about anything are you?”

There was a slight hint of fear at the edge of Molly’s tone. Caleb felt terrible, and rushed to say, “No, no, of course not. I…er…I very much meant what I said.”

Molly breathed a sigh of relief. “Ah. I see. But…but is something wrong?”

“I would…I would just like to discuss things with you first. In private. I am certain Jester is giving us looks right as we speak.”

“What are you whispering about?” Jester asked from across the bath. “Are you two going to make out? Should we leave you alone?”

“Now, Jester—” Fjord started, but Molly cut him off.

“ _Don’t worry about it, dear_ ,” he said. “ _It’s…it’s about something else. Important, and definitely not for talking about right now, okay_?”

Her demeanor instantly shifted. “ _I want details later_ ,” she said with a solemn nod.

The others looked between the two tieflings, as if waiting for more. When none came, Nott crossed her arms.

“You know it’s not nice to speak Infernal when nobody else can understand it,” she grumbled.

“Maybe you should learn Infernal, then,” Molly suggested. “I’d be happy to give you lessons.”

Jester bounced up and down with excitement, which sent a small wave across the water and caused Fjord to look away and blush slightly. “Yes!” she grinned hugely, “oh, yes! I can teach you too! It would be so much fun! I will teach you how to say ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye,’ and then we can move onto more fun things, like how to talk about people behind their back, or how to say all of the colors, or what the names of the princes of the Hells are, or the different kinds of birds—”

Caleb gave Molly a tentative tap on the arm, and when the tiefling looked over, he saw an unreadable expression playing out in the wizard’s clear blue eyes.

“Later, please? Later.”

Molly nodded.

\----------------------

It was later.

After spending almost four hours relaxing and scrubbing up in the Steam’s Respite; then trailing after Jester who wanted to buy a new dress; then trying as delicately as possible to extract information from Pumat about necromancers without raising his suspicions too far; then taking a brief interlude to try and find Nott—who had vanished into the crowd and appeared later with an armful of canes; and then as a group accompanying Caleb to the Archive where they all allowed him to flit between the shelves to his heart’s content as they tried to find one book, any book that seemed mildly interesting; it was just past dusk when they headed back to the Song and Supper and ordered more food than any of them could have realistically finished.

“It’s what you do when you’re rich,” said Nott, before shoving a turkey leg into her mouth. “Or it’s what I’d do, anyways,” she added between chews.

“I keep telling you, we _aren’t_ rich,” argued Jester. “We only got—”

Fjord cut her off. “Perhaps maybe we shouldn’t be announcing how much gold we have everywhere we go?” he suggested in a hushed tone. “Just in case people wonder how we suddenly made that gold, and who gave it to us?”

“He is right,” said Caleb, who had a fork in one hand and a book in the other. “People may get suspicious, especially if the right people notice and are aware that the Signet Wall has no such well-paying jobs.”

Molly, who had chosen the seat across from Caleb and was feeling slightly dejected and confused and trying not to show it, nodded his agreement. “We’ve never tried subtlety before, maybe it’s time for something new.”

“Speaking of something new,” said Yasha, “perhaps we should think of what our next mission would be?”

“That’s a good idea,” said Fjord. “Though maybe we could wait and recover a bit first. I don’t know about you all, but I’m owed a night’s sleep, I think. I haven’t gotten a wink in two days, now.”

“I’m tired too,” said Beau. “I think I’ll head up soon, if anyone wants to join me.”

“I will,” said Yasha, and for a moment Beau straightened up in surprise and excitement. But then Yasha turned to Jester and Nott and said, “you two are also welcome anytime.”

There was a giggle, and Jester mouthed an apology to the monk, now slouched in her chair. 

“Are you feeling tired, Caleb?” Nott asked, turning to her side.

His eyes briefly flickered to Molly’s, and as his cheeks colored he looked away. “Yes,” he admitted, “but I have some things I need to do first.”

Molly was not sure if this was an invitation, but he was going to find out.

\----------------------

Fjord was face-down in the bed, already asleep, by the time Molly collected himself, made sure his jewelry was in place, straightened his coat, and slipped out of their room. He made his way down the hall towards Caleb’s room, and just as he was about to tap his knuckles against the wood, the door swung open and Nott emerged from the darkness. She had an incredibly complicated expression on her face, one that spoke of smugness, immense satisfaction, and impatience, while also managing to convey wariness and a few thinly-veiled threats.

Molly was impressed. He wondered if she’d needed to practice that in the mirror.

“Don’t fuck this up,” she hissed. “Otherwise I’ll kill you.”

He tried to think of a clever response for that. Before he could, she gave him a pat on the hand and said, “Good luck, Molly.”

And then she scuttled off towards the girls’ room, and there were giggles as a blue hand reached out and tugged her in.

Molly took a deep breath, and knocked on Caleb’s door.

“Nott? Is that you? Why did you—”

“It’s me,” said Molly. 

There was a startled yelp, and then a muffled swear in Zemnian. Molly managed to mostly wipe the amused grin off of his face before the door swung open.

“Mollymauk!” Caleb said. A blush was starting to creep across his face. “Come in, come in, please.”

Molly followed the flustered man to the bed, where they had spoken so many times before, in what felt almost like a different life. For Caleb, it sort of was. They took a seat.

When Caleb did nothing but twist wretchedly at the corner of his sleeve and stare at the bedsheets, struggling to find the right words, Molly took the initiative.

“So…” he said lightly, “I believe we’re in need of a conversation? About…about everything that happened.”

“Yes,” said Caleb. “We…we do need to speak.”

“Alright,” Molly leaned back against the headboard with a casual grace that made Caleb’s heart leap. “Let’s talk.”

There was a pause, and then Caleb took a deep breath. “Firstly,” he sighed, continuing to fidget with his hands, “I would like you to know that everything I said is completely true. I believe…I believe we have been dancing around one another for some time, before, but now…knowing that you return my sentiments, that you…you of all people feel the same about me, well, I would be lying if I said that did not make me extremely…happy.”

Molly knew where this was going. “But…?” he prompted.

“But…well…look, Mollymauk, it has been a very long time since I have entertained any…romantic inclinations. I admit that my focus has been directed largely towards other areas, and I…I am _not_ a good person. I do not think I know how to act in a relationship, anymore, and I certainly know that I do not deserve one. I…you are a _wonderful_ , and—”

Molly leaned forwards, and put a hand on Caleb’s shoulder. The man instantly quieted down, and the blush crept back.

“Are you trying to persuade me not to pursue a relationship with you?”

Caleb faltered. “I…I am making sure I am not deceiving you in any way.”

Molly sighed. “You remember, before we moved out into the sewers, how you told me about your past.”

It was not a question. Caleb nodded. 

“And you remember after that, when I _still_ told you that I…that I loved you.”

Caleb swallowed, and nodded again.

“You’re a very smart man. What do you think that means?”

Caleb ran a hand through his hair, and said, “I know, I know that means you did not care, but—”

Molly shushed him. “No,” he said firmly, “I know how important your past is to you. And I _do_ care. I care a great deal. But I care because it was something awful that you did and something terrible that made you do it. I care that this burden and this pain have weighed so heavily on you. But I don’t think you’re a monster for it. And I don’t think it’s something that will ever stop me from loving you. And if…and if _you_ don’t think you’re ready for me, or for a relationship, or for anything to happen between us,” and Molly struggled to keep his voice steady, “then I will respect that. I will honor any choice you make. I am willing to wait a long time for you, Caleb Widogast, as long as you will want me. Do _you_ want me?”

Caleb swallowed hard again, and forced himself to look up. His hands had stopped shaking. His eyes were sharp and clear.

“Yes.”

“I don’t expect you to be perfect, and you shouldn’t expect me to be perfect either. I love you. I just want to know that you love me, and that this is something _you_ want, as well. Is it?”

“…yes.”

The tight knot of worry buried in Molly’s chest eased, and he learned forward. “Then don’t worry about anything else, dear. That’s all I need. From you? That’s all I need. Both of us are all kinds of fucked up, believe me, I know, and I’m not expecting anything like domestic life in a cottage in the woods and a nice wooden fence. Right now? Right here? All I need is you. If…if that’s something you’re willing to give.”

Caleb gently took Molly’s hand, and pressed it against his cheek. “It is,” he murmured. “I just…I just wanted to make sure you knew who you were giving yourself to. And that you absolutely wanted to.”

Molly smiled, and stroked his thumb against Caleb’s jaw. “I’ve known for quite some time now,” he whispered back. “And I absolutely do.”

“Oh,” Caleb said softly. “Oh, good.”

Molly paused for a moment, as if weighing a statement. And then he looked into Caleb’s eyes and asked, slowly, “How _are_ you feeling? How are you _really_ feeling?”

Caleb bit his lip. “Really and truly? There is a strange ache in my chest. Not—” he added quickly, “—not something you need to be worried about, I think. It is not actually hurting. But…well…I have a perfect memory. And luckily there was quite a lot happening at the time, and the pain was dulled by shock, I think, but I still…I still remember it. I still remember how it _felt_.”

Molly’s shoulders sagged. “ _Fuck_ ,” he muttered. “I…I’m sorry, Caleb. I’m sorry I couldn’t—”

Caleb waved a hand to cut him off. “No, _bitte_. It was not your fault. If anything…if anything, I am glad that you were there when it happened. I am glad that you stayed by my side.”

Molly scoffed, but it was a sound almost of pity as much as reproach. “Of course,” he said. “Of course I would be there. Come now, you’ve been paying attention, right? I love you. Of course.”

Caleb nodded. “I…it will take some getting used to.”

“I’ll always be here to remind you,” Molly smiled. 

“Thank you. Truly. I…I would say I do not deserve it, but you have made your feelings on that matter apparent by now.”

“Good,” said Molly. “I’m glad they’ve gotten through that thick, beautiful head of yours.”

Caleb laughed. “I am glad you think it is beautiful, if thick.”

“Always.”

The wizard nodded. “You know, being near you is helping, somewhat. You have always been…a whirlwind of emotion and color. It is a draw, and helps when there is a lot on my mind.”

“Are you saying I’m a distraction?”

“No,” said Caleb. “My thoughts are the distraction. _You_ are what I want to focus on.”

Molly smiled, and now there was something like nervous anticipation on his face. “Would…would you like me to help you focus some more?”

Caleb raised an eyebrow. “Oh?” he asked. “How so?”

Molly took the man’s other hand into his own. “You know, I was thinking of offering up something else during the ritual. It…it wouldn’t be the first time, but if I recall correctly, the first time I didn’t exactly ask for permission, and it was mostly to throw off the trail of a rather haughty lady companion. But I would very much like to give you one again. So… so if you wouldn’t be opposed to it, could I—”

Caleb leaned across the bed and pressed his lips against Molly’s.

There was a moment of shock, and then a stifled chuckle as Molly pushed back, mouth parted slightly in a mixture of surprise, amusement, and something else.

They pulled away for a moment, and Caleb’s eyes searched Molly’s desperately. When he found nothing but delight in the tiefling’s partially-lidded red eyes, he smiled.

“Now we’re even,” he said. “You stole one before. It was my turn, I think.”

“You sly bastard,” Molly grinned, and leaned in again.

\----------------------

Molly’s finger paused at the top of his collar. “Is _this_ why you spent so much time scrubbing up this morning?”

Caleb stopped, halfway down the buttons on his tunic, and bit his lip. “Perhaps I _was_ planning for the small chance that something like this might happen.”

Molly chuckled. “It’s not a small chance when I have anything to say about it. But I do hope the fact that we’ve already seen each other naked a million times before in a bathhouse doesn’t make the moment any less special for you.” 

Caleb fought the blush threatening to swallow his entire being and smiled.

“Nothing could ever make this less special, Mollymauk.”

Molly burst out laughing, and leaned over to press another kiss to Caleb’s jaw. “Always knew you were charismatic under all those layers,” he quipped, and then gave a devilish smirk. “Can that silver tongue of yours do anything else?”

“Finish taking that coat off and come find out,” Caleb murmured. “I would like to know as well.”

\----------------------

“I bet they’re having sex _right_ now,” said Jester, tying off the braid in Nott’s hair. “I bet it’s going great.”

“Please,” Beau grumbled into her pillow, “ _please_ can we not talk about this? Their moms are right here.”

Nott and Yasha exchanged looks.

“They’re adults,” shrugged Nott.

“It’s about time,” said Yasha. “And I’m not his mother.”

“You’re outvoted,” said Jester, and reached for a mirror. “Here, Nott, take a look!”

\----------------------

“Okay,” Molly sighed as he sank into the mattress. “The answer is quite a bit.”

It was late now, and moonlight filtered gently in through their window. The other rooms were silent, save for soft snores and the faint creaking of mice—and Frumpkin—slipping in from the rest of the tavern. 

Caleb turned over and buried his face into the pillow. “Mollymauk…”

“Aw, come now, I’m not allowed to tease?”

He lifted an eye and gave Molly a reproachful stare that quickly melted into soft affection. “You’re allowed to,” he sighed. “Although I am _not_ looking forward to what the rest will say.”

“They don’t have to know if you don’t want them to…?”

“No,” said Caleb. “They’d find out sooner or later. And this is not something I want to hide. But I just _know_ Jester is going to make all kinds of comments tomorrow.”

“Well,” said Molly, “I can try to be discrete. Who knows, perhaps they won’t say anything at all.”

\----------------------

And the next morning, Mollymauk appeared at the top of the stairs wearing Caleb’s coat, his own slung over his shoulder like a towel. Caleb, coat-less, trailed after him with an expression of resigned dread on his face. But there was a faint giddiness still warm in his chest, and he followed Molly so closely they were almost touching.

For a brief moment, Fjord, Beau, Yasha, Jester, and Nott all turned their heads and watched them descend. Their expressions ranged from ecstatic (Jester), to unsurprised (Nott), to faintly amused (Fjord), to completely disinterested (Beau), to a careful mask that tried very hard not to look like it wanted to know the entire story, with all the juicy details, even though she very much wanted to (Yasha). 

Molly sat down first, gratefully accepting a plate of hash from Beau, followed by Caleb, who took a seat between him and Nott and promptly put his forehead against the table without saying a word.

“Wakin’ up rather late this morning, huh?” Fjord commented lightly. “You didn’t come back to the room last night either?”

“Nope,” said Molly. He rolled up the sleeves—Caleb’s sleeves—and continued eating. 

“Busy night?” Yasha asked. “Did you sleep alright?”

“Well, I—”

Jester planted her hands against the tabletop and leaned across the plates, peering closely at Molly’s eyes. “Did you have sex?” she demanded, and muffled by wood, Caleb started coughing violently. 

“Now, Jester,” Fjord said with a smile, “maybe that’s prying a little too far.” But then the half-orc lowered his voice and added, “ _Did_ you…?”

Molly winked, and kept eating. “I don’t kiss and tell,” he said. 

Caleb muttered something incomprehensible, finished with a resigned sigh.

Beau stood up. “I’m gonna go do something interesting today,” she announced. “Come on, you all, you’re coming with me.”

Jester shook her head. “Aw, no way, I wanna know—”

Beau reached down and pulled on Jester’s hand as the others, all smirking, stood up. “We’ll be back later,” she said. “Figure out your story by then, alright?”

“Make it a good one!” Jester said. “Don’t leave out any details!”

“I want a full report,” Yasha nodded.

“But not too full,” Fjord and Nott both added at the same time.

Once they all had gone—wearing huge grins at a job well done, Nott pausing to give him a pat on the hand before scampering off—Caleb finally lifted his head to look around. His cheeks were deeply flushed, and his ginger hair was plastered to his forehead. After a moment, he gave Molly an exasperated sigh.

“I _told_ you wearing that would be too much.”

Molly turned slightly, showing off his profile. “Why, though? I look marvelous. The previous owner had good taste in coats.”

Caleb sighed again. “Their teasing is merciless,” he muttered. “You encourage them.”

Molly laughed. “Is it worth it?” he asked.

There was a shift, as Caleb’s eyes softened and a playful smile quirked at the edges of his mouth.

“For you, Mollymauk Tealeaf? Every time.”

And then they rose from the booth and walked out of the inn together, Molly’s arm looped behind Caleb’s neck, blush dancing across both of their faces, Frumpkin trailing at their heels. The late-morning sounds of the Interstead Sprawl curled around them, its cobbled streets humming under the bustle of rolling carts, shouting merchants, the clangs of blacksmith’s shops and chatter of roaming pedestrians. 

And for the first time in a very long time, the sunlight felt sweet against Caleb’s skin. Molly’s fingers brushed gently across his shoulder. 

He could smell lavender in the air.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys. I love you all so much, and I can't begin to say how thankful I am for the incredible support you all have given me through this crazy adventure. You're amazing readers, and I am so honored y'all have left so many comments and kudos along the way. I appreciate every one of you so so much, and I can't wait to keep writing for you all in the future! Rogue is still coming, and I've got a pretty wild Widomauk fic that might end up being the next longfic of the genre on the way as well. In the meantime, share the story, make your friends suffer through everything as well all have, check me out [@sockablock](https://www.sockablock.tumblr.com) on tumblr! I love all of you so so much, and one more time, THANK YOU!!! <33333


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